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Examination of Smoke Marker Ratios from Wildfires
AMY P. SULLIVAN, Sonia Kreidenweis, Emily Fischer, Bret Schichtel, Jeffrey Collett, Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 77
Working Group: Wildfire Aerosols
Abstract
One of the main sources of organic carbon (OC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) aerosols is biomass burning. Therefore, it is important to be able to determine the contribution of biomass burning to the total OC or WSOC concentration. Smoke marker measurements provide one of the most common methods to make this determination. The key to using the smoke marker approach is knowing the smoke marker to OC or WSOC ratio at the source. However, there is still much uncertainty in these smoke marker ratios, especially for biomass burning emissions from wildfires. Therefore, in this work, we aim to try to better understand the constraints and variability that should be placed on smoke marker ratios when attempting to determine the contribution of smoke from wildfires. Comparisons between source samples collected at the Fire Science Lab in Missoula, MT from the FLAME (Fire Science at Missoula Experiment) studies and samples collected from ground-based and airborne sampling of various wildfires across the U.S. will be made. Results for smoke markers such as potassium and levoglucosan will be presented. How parameters such as fuel type and aging might play a role on smoke marker ratios will also be discussed.