AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
The Current State and Future of Wildfire Smoke and Air Quality Modeling
TIMOTHY BROWN, Narasimhan (Sim) Larkin, Pete Lahm, Desert Research Institute
Abstract Number: 460 Working Group: Biomass Burning Aerosol: From Emissions to Impacts
Abstract Smoke is a consequence from biomass burning, and starting in the 1970s, has been an increasingly prominent issue for wildland fire management agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act of 1970, and subsequent regulatory amendments have provided a mandate to monitor and manage smoke. In response to the management planning needs, numerous smoke model guidance products have been developed over the years starting in the 1990s. The primary problem is that there has been little scientific objective evidence that any wildland fire smoke model to date provides sufficiently desired accurate and reliable results. This is a critical knowledge gap given the regulatory and decision-making needs surrounding smoke and air quality management. The same information needs has lead to new monitoring for wildfire smoke. This presentation will give a perspective from a research partnership at the interface of science and operations for smoke and air quality. An overview will be provided of the current status of operational smoke modeling and monitoring. A discussion will be provided on key scientific questions and knowledge gaps for the next generation of smoke and air quality models.