A new article submitted to Atmospheric Environment by Brandon Finley, Phil Swartzendruber, and Dan Jaffe shows that wildfires are a major source of particulate mercury (PHg) in the Pacific Northwest. Emissions of PHg were observed in 16 wildfire plumes sampled at the Mount Bachelor Observatory from 2005-2007. Wildfires were identified using back-trajectory analysis and MODIS fire data. Using the measured PHg/CO ratio and estimates of global CO produced from wildfires, we estimate that wildfire sources of PHg are comparable to anthropogenic sources.

Finley, B. D., Swartzendruber, P., & Jaffe, D. A. Large particulate mercury emissions from wildfires at the Mount Bachelor Observatory.

The interannual variability of long-range transport (LRT) of CO to the west coast of the U.S. was investigated with MBO and ESRL ground station data, MOPITT and TES satellite retrievals and GEOS-Chem model output. We reveal a significant enhancement in LRT of CO during spring 2005 vs. spring 2006. This was due to the combination of differing transport pathways, synoptic conditions over the NE Pacific and anomalously strong biomass burning in SE Asia during winter 2004 - spring 2005.

Reidmiller, D. R., D. A. Jaffe, D. Chand, P. Swartzendruber, S. Strode, G. M. Wolfe and J. A. Thornton, (2009), Interannual variability of long-range transport as seen at the Mt. Bachelor Observatory. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 557 - 572.

A new article by Emily Fischer shows that dust from the Gobi and Taklimakan deserts in China and Mongolia is routinely present in the air over the western United States during spring months. The article was published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Fischer, E. V., N. C. Hsu, D. A. Jaffe, M.-J. Jeong, and S. L. Gong (2009), A decade of dust: Asian dust and springtime aerosol load in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L03821, doi:10.1029/2008GL036467.

Zhang L., D. J. Jacob, K. F. Boersma, D. A. Jaffe, J. R. Olson, K. W. Bowman, J. R. Worden, A. M. Thompson, M. A. Avery, R. C. Cohen, J. E. Dibb, F. M. Flock, H. E. Fuelberg, L. G. Huey, W. W. McMillan, H. B. Singh, and A. J. Weinheimer. Transpacific transport of ozone pollution and the effect of recent Asian emission increases on air quality in North America: an integrated analysis using satellite, aircraft, ozonesonde, and surface observations. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 6117-6136, 2008

Zhang 2008

New article by Nicola Pirrone (Italy-UNEP) stresses the value
of the Mt. Bachelor observations.


"A network of mercury monitoring stations ideally would include background sites such as those in the WMO's Global Atmospheric Watch initiative, as well as strategic high altitude sites on known long range transport routes such as Mount Bachelor in Oregon (Jaffe and Strode, 2008) and Mauna Loa in Hawaii."

Atmos. Env.

Seattle is in violation of the new, tougher O3 standard.

Going over the legal limit for smog over the weekend means officials here will have to devise a plan to improve air quality in the region.

Read the article:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/375427_airpollution19.html

This figure shows the relationship between summer mean O3 measured at 9 NPS/CASTNET sites in the Western US along with summer area burned for 1989-2004. Large fire years, such as 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2002, have significantly more O3. The relationship is statistically robust. In the publication the impacts of fires on different scales around each monitoring site.


Influence of fires on air quality.

Interannual Variations in PM2.5 due to Wildfires in the Western United States. Dan Jaffe, William Hafner, Duli Chand, Anthony Westerling, and Dominick Spracklen. Environ. Sci. Technol., 42 (8), 2812–2818, 2008. 10.1021/es702755v
Environ. Sci. Technol.

Reactive and particulate mercury in the Asian atmospheric boundary layer, Chand D., Jaffe D., Prestbo E., Swartzendruber P.C., HafnerW., Weiss-Penzias P., Kato S., Takami A., Hatakeyama S., and Kajii Y.. Atmos.Envir. 42, Issue 34, 7988-7996, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.06.048. 2008. Click here for PDF

Vertical Distribution of Mercury, CO, Ozone, and Aerosol Scatter in the Pacific Northwest During the Spring 2006 INTEX-B Campaign, Swartzendruber, P., D. Chand, D. Jaffe, J. Smith, D. Reidmiller, L. Gratz, G. J. Keeler, S. Strode, L. Jaeglé, and R. Talbot, J. Geophys. Res., 2008, 113, D10305, doi:10.1029/2007JD009579. Click here for PDF

Fate and Transport of Atmospheric Mercury from Asia , D. Jaffe, S. Strode , Environ. Chem. 2008, 5, 121, doi:10.1071/EN08010.
Environ. Chemistry

Influence of Fires on O3 Concentrations in the Western U.S. Jaffe D.A., Hafner W., Chand D., Westerling A., Spracklen D., Envir.Sci.Tech. 42 (16) pp 5885 - 5891; doi:10.1021/es800084k, 2008. Click here for PDF

Inter-annual Variations in PM2.5 due to Wildfires in the Western United States. Jaffe D.A., Hafner W., Chand D., Westerling A., Spracklen D. Envir.Sci.Tech. 42 (8), 2812–2818, 2008. doi: 10.1021/es702755v, 2008. Click here for PDF

Please refer to Publications to review articles from previous years.