Impact of FireLab/FIREX-AQ Fuel Burned Amounts and Emission Factors on Pyrogenic Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter Simulated by a Regional Chemical Model

Air quality forecasts using regional chemical models provide key information for affected communities and smoke management efforts, yet many models fail to accurately predict ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels during fire events. Our research utilizes the dataset from the 2016 NOAA Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments (FIREX) FireLab and 2019 NOAA/NASA FIREX and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) field campaigns to improve model representations of fire emissions, with the aim of developing a better capability to predict air quality and weather in fire-affected regions. We conduct simulations of the FIREX-AQ period with the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model, with fire emissions calculated using fuel burned amounts and emission factors either from field campaigns prior to FIREX-AQ and satellite data, or calculated from FireLab/FIREX-AQ observations. Simulated trace gas and aerosol fields, including O3 and PM2.5, and plume injection heights are compared with observations from FIREX-AQ and surface network observations.