AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Aerosol Microphysical Properties from Canadian Boreal Forest Fires Measured during BORTAS
KIMIKO SAKAMOTO, James Allan, Hugh Coe, Jonathan Taylor, Thomas Duck, Jeffrey Pierce, Dalhousie University
Abstract Number: 716 Working Group: Combustion
Abstract Biomass burning emissions contribute significantly to aerosol concentrations in many regions of the atmosphere. Plume-aerosol characteristics vary according to age, fuel type, and region. These differences are poorly represented in regional and global aerosol models, and they contribute to large uncertainties in predicted size distributions in biomass-burning-dominated regions. The BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants over the Atlantic using Aircraft and Satellites (BORTAS) measurement campaign was designed to invesigate boreal biomass burning emissions over Atlantic Canada during July-August of 2011. Aged (2-3 days) biomass burning aerosols originating from western Ontario were measured by an SMPS and AMS on board the British Atmospheric Research Aircraft. The presence of plumes were identified through CO concentrations and acetonitrile enhancement ratios. In-plume aerosol size distributions were collected for six aged plume profiles. The size distributions show a single-mode median diameter of ~ 200 nm, and the dependince of aerosol size on various factors will be discussed.