Fire emissions are an important component of global models, which help to understand the influence of sources, transport and chemistry on atmospheric composition. Global fire emission inventories can vary substantially due to the assumptions made in the emission creation process, including the defined vegetation type, fire detection, fuel loading, fraction of vegetation burned and emissions factors. Here, we focus on the uncertainty in emission factors and the resulting impact on modeled composition. Our study uses the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM-chem) to model atmospheric composition for 2014, a year chosen for the relatively quiet El Niño Southern Oscillation activity. We focus on carbon monoxide (CO), a trace gas emitted from incomplete combustion and also produced from secondary oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Fire is a major source of atmospheric CO and VOCs. Modeled CO from four fire emission inventories (CMIP6/GFED4s, QFED2.5, GFAS1.2 and FINN1.5) are compared after being implemented in CAM-chem. Multiple sensitivity tests are performed based on CO and VOC emission factor uncertainties. We compare model output in the 14 basis regions defined by the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) team and evaluate against CO observations from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite-based instrument. For some regions, emission factor uncertainty spans the results found by using different inventories. Finally, we use modeled ozone (O3) to briefly investigate how emission factor uncertainty influences the atmospheric oxidative environment. Overall, accounting for emission factor uncertainty when modeling atmospheric chemistry can lend a range of uncertainty to simulated results.

Wildfire emissions can vary substantially between different inventories due to the assumptions made in the emission creation process, including the defined vegetation type, fire detection, fuel loading, fraction of vegetation burned and emissions factors. Here, we focus on the uncertainty in emission factors and the resulting impact on modeled composition. We use the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM-chem) to simulate 2014 atmospheric composition and focus on carbon monoxide (CO), a trace gas emitted from incomplete combustion and also produced from secondary oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Fire is a major source of atmospheric CO and VOCs. Multiple simulations are compared, from an ensemble using four fire emission inventories (CMIP6/GFED4s, QFED2.5, GFAS1.2 and FINN1.5) and a range of sensitivity tests based on CO and VOC emission factor uncertainties. We compare model output and evaluate against CO observations from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite-based instrument. For some regions, emission factor uncertainty spans the results found by using different inventories. Finally, we use modeled ozone (O3) to investigate how emission factor uncertainty influences the atmospheric oxidative environment. Overall, accounting for emission factor uncertainty lends a range of uncertainty to simulated results.