Figure 1 . Study area map with FLEXPART-WRF model domain.
Rectangles mark the WRF domains D1 which has a horizontal resolution of
12 km and D2 (4 km resolution). SEACIONS locations are marked by black
circles (St. Louis, Missouri station (STL) is a gray circle). Wildfire
emissions from FLAMBE, August-September 2013, with eleven Pyro
convective and five high-altitude injection elevated smoke plume
activity areas are marked, red crosses indicate pyroCb plumes which
transport smoke into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Blue
crosses indicate high-altitude injection of smoke in the absence of
large pyroCb which transport smoke into the mid-troposphere).
Figure 2. Ozonesondes in support of SEACIONS were launched at
the Saint Louis University ozonesonde station located at the James S.
McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park (90.27˚W, 38.63˚N, 181 m asl), 5 km
west of downtown St. Louis. Vertical tropospheric profiles at
~18:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. Local time) ozone profiles are
averaged vertically every 500 m and shown below the thermal tropopause
level (~15 km). Cases of ozone enhancements above the
background (~55 ppbv) are shown by source origin: the
gray box for Stratospheric-Tropospheric Transport (STT), the solid black
line boxes for biomass burning (BB), and the dashed line black boxes for
combined STT and BB.
Figure 3. Biomass burning emissions of carbon monoxide (CO)
estimated by FLAMBE in units of Gg per km2 per hour in
North America during SEACIONS, 8 Aug to 22 Sept 2013. FLAMBE emissions
are displayed on the model grid which has a resolution of 0.25˚ per
cell. Only cells with emissions above 2,000 kg are shown.
Figure 4. A time series of FLAMBE emissions (mass/time)
converted to particles released in FLEXPART-WRF (# of particles or
particle count). Each 500 kg of mass is converted to 1 particle in
FLEXPART-WRF simulations. Locations emitting less than 500 kg only emit
a single particle. Arrows represent the duration of two of the largest
wildfires (Rim Fire and Beaver Creek) with relevance to SEACIONS with
other fires (Emigrant Fire and Pony/Elk Complex) contributing to those
time frame emissions indicated. The dotted line is the California Rim
Fire (37.85˚N, 120.083˚W) 17-31 August 2013, and the solid line is the
Idaho Beaver Creek (43.593˚N, 114.684˚W) 7-21 August 2013. Note: Beaver
Creek and Pony/Elk Complex occurred nearly at the same time and were
fewer than 100 km apart in distance. While, the Emigrant Fire
contributed a significant amount of emissions during its occurrence at
the same time as the Rim Fire but was much smaller in magnitude.
Figure 5. FLEXPART-WRF Biomass burning (BB) CO concentrations
and age are simulated, binning trajectories over St. Louis within a 2.5˚
x 2.5˚ grid box and averaged vertically 500 m with daily temporal
resolution. FLAMBE emissions of BB CO are converted into particle
amounts and are released. (a) The base simulation, Boundary Layer
Simulation, releases emissions within the PBL, (b) NRL’s adjusted
pyro-convention scheme is implemented, PyroCb Simulation, particles are
released from pyroCbs and high-altitude injection as specified in Table
1, and (c). The combined (a) and (b). With panels (d-f), corresponding
to plume ages in simulations. The average BB CO g cm-3per grid cell (top) lighter shading indicated higher concentration and
transported CO plume ages (bottom) lighter shading indicates older air.
Figure 6. Series of daily synoptic atmospheric plane slices at
500 hPa at 7:00 UTC for preceding conditions to individual transport
cases (a-c) 21 August 2013 (d-f) 30 August 2013.
Figure 7. Atmospheric plane slices from NARR at 500 hPa at
18:00 UTC (a) 21 August 2013 (b) 30 August 2013. Vertical Cross sections
at 90˚ W, 20-60˚ N 18:00 UT (c) 21 August 2013 (d) 30 August 2013. Blue
contour lines show Potential Vorticity (PV) 106 PVU,
Relative Humidity (RH) below 30% is shaded from light to dark, with
darker shades representing the dryer air. The black lines on (a) and (b)
are pressure height contours in m. While, the black lines on (c) and (d)
represent potential temperature (isentropic surfaces) in K. Biomass
burning sources tend to have low PV and can have moderate RH levels for
pyroCbs, while stratospheric air masses have high PV and low RH. The
blue dashed line PV contour (1.5 PV) shows the approximate boundary
between stratospheric and tropospheric air masses. Arrows (green) show
air-mass transport patterns from Stratospheric-Tropospheric Transport
(STT) and from Biomass Burning (BB).
Figure 8. NOAA Hazard Management System (HMS) and Smoke Product
analysis of smoke (a) 21 Aug 2013 and (b) 30 Aug 2013. Below, three-day
backward FLEXPART-WRF trajectories corresponding to each episode is
provided (c) 21 Aug 2013 and (d) 30 Aug 2013. Additional trajectories
are placed in the data archive at
https://tropo.gsfc.nasa.gov/seacions/.
Figure 9. Vertical tropospheric profiles over St. Louis at
~18:30 to 19:30 UTC for selected test cases 21 August
2013 and 30 August 2013. Labels P1 to P6 correspond to plume information
in Table 3. Ozone measured from the ozonesonde in ppb are shown as a
black line. Panel (a) and (d), the green line RH %. Panel (b) and (e),
the blue line represents the GEOS-5 modeled Potential Vorticity
106 PVU. Panel (c) and (f), the FLEXPART-WRF modeled
CO biomass burning g cm-3, for each simulation the
PYRO simulation is red, and BASELINE simulation in gray. Refer to Figure
2 for corresponding ozonesonde curtain plots.