Emission ratios of trace gases and particles for Siberian forest fires on the basis of mobile ground observations

Vasileva, Anastasia; Moiseenko, Konstantin; Skorokhod, Andrey; Belikov, Igor; Kopeikin, Vladimir; Lavrova, Olga

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12303-2017

Articles | Volume 17, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12303-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX)

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12303-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 20

Research article

|

17 Oct 2017

Research article |

| 17 Oct 2017

Emission ratios of trace gases and particles for Siberian forest fires on the basis of mobile ground observations

Anastasia Vasileva, Konstantin Moiseenko, Andrey Skorokhod, Igor Belikov, Vladimir Kopeikin, and Olga Lavrova

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Final revised paper (published on 17 Oct 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 04 May 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Valuable dataset needs more supporting information', Anonymous Referee #1, 30 May 2017
- AC1: 'Response to Referee 1', Anastasia Vasileva, 04 Aug 2017
- AC2: 'Resised text', Anastasia Vasileva, 04 Aug 2017
RC2: 'Review of acp-2017-362', Anonymous Referee #2, 07 Jun 2017
- AC3: 'Resopnse to Referee 2', Anastasia Vasileva, 04 Aug 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Anastasia Vasileva on behalf of the Authors (06 Aug 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (08 Aug 2017) by Veli-Matti Kerminen

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (28 Aug 2017)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Review of revised manuscript acp-2017-362
Emission ratios of trace gases and particles for Siberian forest fires on the basis of mobile ground observations

General Comments
This paper is a significantly revised manuscript that reports emission ratios for Siberian forest fires measured from a mobile ground based platform. The measurements were obtained from a laboratory car on an electric powered train travelling the Trans-Siberian Railway in October 2005 and August 2007. In each year the train passed through smoke plumes from nearby forest fires. Each smoke plume crossing event was about 200 km in length and about 4 hours in duration. Instrumentation on the lab car measured CO2, CO, CH4, NMHC, NO, NO2, PM3, and BC. The study provides emission ratios which are an important addition to the limited body of knowledge regarding emissions from boreal forest fires in northern Eurasia. Given the global importance of northern Eurasia as a source of biomass burning emissions and sensitivity the sensitivity of the region to climate and associated likelihood of increased fire in the feature, this study presents a potentially important contribution to the biomass burning science literature.

In my initial review my major concern was that the authors failed to demonstrate the smoke plumes sampled were sufficiently fresh (one day or less post emission) to be suitable for measuring emission ratios. This is critical as ER may be used to derive emission factors (EF) and used to estimate mass emissions when combined with fuel mass consumed estimates. If the smoke plumes sampled had undergone significant chemical transformation the normalized excess mixing ratios could not be considered emission ratios. The authors have addressed this concern by revising the manuscript to include an analysis that convincingly shows the smoke plume to be < 24 hours post emission when sampled, and hence appropriate to be used for reporting emission ratios. The revised Figures 1 & 2 clearly demonstrate that the smoke sampled during F1 and F2 originated from fires located near the rail line and that it was < 24 hours post emission when sampled. The analysis demonstrates that the emission samples may be correctly reported emission ratios. I do suggest using different color (see Technical Comments below)

My initial review included several critical comments which the authors have thoroughly addressed in their revision and/or responses. I thank the authors for seriously considering and addressing the comments of myself and the other reviewer. I recommend this revised manuscript for publication in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics pending a few technical revisions.

Technical Comments
Here are a few typo/grammar/ English usage comments and a suggested slight change to Figures 2 and 3.
P2, L10 change “into” to “to”
P2, L22 Maybe define ozone here, e.g. “…CO, NOx, ozone (O3), and aerosol…” and use chemical formula hereafter (e.g. P2, L 24)
P7, L1 typo: change “dairy” to “diary”
P10, L 27: change “…exactly in the day…” to “on the same day” an delete “directly”
P11, L 5: delete “directly” change “in the day” to “on the day”
P12, L9: delete “consequent”
P12, L 33: change “have” to “has”
Figures 1 and 2. The F1 and F2 transects in the figures as it is difficult to discern the green from the background. I suggests using a different color, perhaps a bright orange, for the F1 and F2 transects.

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ED: Reconsider after minor revisions (Editor review) (29 Aug 2017) by Veli-Matti Kerminen

AR by Anastasia Vasileva on behalf of the Authors (31 Aug 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (31 Aug 2017) by Veli-Matti Kerminen

AR by Anastasia Vasileva on behalf of the Authors (01 Sep 2017) Manuscript

Short summary

Boreal Siberia is a unique region with severe wildfire activity which is little studied today. We employ unique ground-based observations of major biomass burning products obtained during TRanscontinental Observations Into the Chemistry of the Atmosphere (TROICA) expedition along the Trans-Siberian Railway to provide information about chemical composition of forest fire plumes in Siberia. The results may be used in studies related to climate change and regional air quality.