The Impact of Smoke on Boundary Layer Trace Gas Abundance in the California Central Valley

Wildfires are a major source of atmospheric pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter. The California Central Valley has been severely impacted by smoke during several wildfire seasons over the last decade, and these smoke-impacted periods have been opportunistically sampled by several major airborne field campaigns including ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites, 2008) and WE-CAN (Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen, 2018). Using data collected by these field campaigns in conjunction with data collected during NASA SARP (Student Airborne Research Program, 2016), we compare the abundance of various trace gases in smoke-impacted versus smoke-free sampling periods within the Central Valley boundary layer. We attribute observed trace gases to biomass burning, biogenic, and anthropogenic sources using positive matrix factorization (PMF; EPA v5.0 model). The implications of biomass burning emissions on California air quality are evaluated.