Impact of Residential Wood Burning on Physical, Chemical, Optical, and Biological Characteristics of Subarctic Aerosols in Northpole, Alaska, during Wintertime

RAGHU BETHA, Kaitlyn McKinney, Saravanan Kanagaratnam, Anastasia Hewitt, Srijan Aggarwal, Subhabrata Dev, Dominique Pride, Texas Tech University

     Abstract Number: 485
     Working Group: Biomass Combustion: Outdoor/Indoor Transport and Indoor Air Quality

Abstract
Interior Alaska regions are prone to episodes of poor air quality, especially during wintertime. Extremely low winter temperatures, valley-like topography, high latitude, and lack of winds make the region susceptible to frequent temperature inversions. Due to fuel poverty, where a household spends a disproportionately large percentage of its income on energy needs such as residential heating, many residents in Alaska still rely on wood-burning as the primary source of residential heating. The emissions from the residential wood burning combined with temperature inversion led to frequent exceedance of the 24-hr PM2.5 standards. In this study, we used real-time instruments and filter samplers to characterize and determine sources of atmospheric aerosols in Interior Alaska during wintertime. More specifically, we examined the influence of meteorological parameters and anthropogenic activities on particle size, mass and number, carbon fractionation, chemical speciation, particle absorption, and biological fractions of atmospheric aerosols. We will discuss the observed elevation of particle concentrations, alteration to their physicochemical properties, and the distinct nature of bioaerosols during the region's temperature inversions and wood-burning episodes. In addition, we will present the specific markers for detecting residential wood burning smoke in the air along with methods to estimate the source contributions.