2019 FIREX-AQ
Biomass burning is a large and uncontrolled emission of reactive gas phase species and aerosol with major impacts on air quality and climate. Particularly in the western U.S., the combination of past fire suppression activities and climate change has led to increased wildfire frequency and area burned in recent decades. The 2019 combined NASA - NOAA utilized a suite of aircraft to characterize the emissions, transport and atmospheric chemistry of biomass burning emissions.
The NASA DC-8 flew with an extremely comprehensive payload out of Boise, Idaho to study western wildfires and Salina, Kansas to study agricultural fires in the eastern U.S. Our group will deployed the airborne cavity enhanced spectrometer (ACES) for measurements of glyoxal, methyl glyoxal and nitrogen dioxide.
The NOAA Twin Otter is a light aircraft based in Boise, Idaho and Cedar City, Utah for detailed investigations of western wildfires. Its more targeted payload to investigated photochemistry, nighttime chemistry and aerosol optical properties in biomass burning plumes. Our group lead the deployment of this aircraft.
