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.