Monitoring Smoke from Landscape Fires in the Flint Hills Region of Kansas during the 2022 Burning Season
OLIVIA SABLAN, Bonne Ford, Emily Gargulinski, Melanie Hammer, Giovanna Henery, Shobha Kondragunta, Randall Martin, Zoey Rosen, Kellin Slater, Aaron van Donkelaar, Hai Zhang, Amber Soja, Sheryl Magzamen, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Emily Fischer,
Colorado State University Abstract Number: 347
Working Group: Aerosols Spanning Spatial Scales: Measurement Networks to Models and Satellites
AbstractIn the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, annual springtime (March - May) prescribed burning is practiced to boost cattle weight gain, control invasive species, and maintain ecosystem diversity and health in the tall grass prairie. Smoke produced from these prescribed fires adversely impacts air quality and visibility. Regulatory monitors for fine particulate matter (PM
2.5) are located only in urban and suburban areas around the Flint Hills, which has afforded a limited understanding of the extent of smoke impact in rural communities. To quantify the contribution of springtime prescribed burning to PM
2.5 concentrations in the Flint Hills and downwind regions, we deployed 37 PurpleAir PM
2.5 sensors for the 2022 burning season. We use observations from this ground-based network alongside a suite of satellite products (e.g., NOAA Hazard Mapping System, GOES Aerosol Optical Depth) to determine the PM
2.5 attributable to smoke. In 2022, the Flint Hills were also impacted by dust and transported smoke from high winds, drought, and wildfires in New Mexico. Here, we separate the local and transported smoke effects for our exposure estimates. Across the low-cost sensor network, 24-hour mean PM
2.5 increased by 5.2 μg/m
3 on days impacted by smoke from fires in the eastern Kansas region versus smoke-free days. We compared our findings to two products derived from multiple satellites and ground-based measurements. We observed an increase in PM
2.5 concentrations in the Flint Hills in both satellite products and in-situ measurements during the prescribed burning period.