Satellite-based estimation of the impacts of summertime wildfires on PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentration in the United States

Xue, Zhixin; Gupta, Pawan; Christopher, Sundar

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11243-2021

Articles | Volume 21, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11243-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11243-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 14

Research article

|

27 Jul 2021

Research article |

| 27 Jul 2021

Satellite-based estimation of the impacts of summertime wildfires on PM_2.5 concentration in the United States

Zhixin Xue, Pawan Gupta, and Sundar Christopher

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Final revised paper (published on 27 Jul 2021)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 09 Dec 2020)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review of the paper by Xue et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Jan 2021
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Sundar Christopher, 03 Mar 2021
RC2: 'Review for acp-2020-1152', Anonymous Referee #2, 01 Feb 2021
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Sundar Christopher, 03 Mar 2021

Peer-review completion

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

AR by Sundar Christopher on behalf of the Authors (03 Mar 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (06 Mar 2021) by Zhanqing Li

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (11 Mar 2021)

RR by Anonymous Referee #4 (23 Mar 2021)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The "Satellite-based Estimation of the Impacts of Summertime Wildfires on Particulate Matter Air Quality in United States" presents an interesting work, although it requires a major revision before it is suitable for publication in the esteemed journal ACP.

a. The term "Particulate Matter Air Quality" is very confusing here. I have checked the manuscript and I did not see the authors discuss PM10 or other Particulate Matter. Meanwhile, "Air quality" can make people think of "Air quality index". Actually, the authors should specifically emphasize this research is concerning the Impacts of Summertime Wildfires on PM2.5 concentrations. The revised title is more precise and more consistent with the abstract and the manuscript.

b. Given many relevant papers concerning PM2.5 estimation I read and reviewed, PM2.5-Meteorology interactions are very important factors to be considered and well explained. For the introduction part, the reviewer should briefly state that different meteorological factors influence pm2.5 concentrations through different mechanisms and introduce some relevant studies to present readers a clear background. In the method part, when the authors explain what meteorological factors were included in the research, they should also briefly introduce why or introduce some relevant studies.
Generally, PM2.5-Meteorology relationship is closely related to this research and should definitely be introduced more in details in the manuscript. Authors could refer to some recent references for more information.

Chen et al. Influence of meteorological conditions on PM2.5 concentrations across China: A review of methodology and mechanism. Environment International. 2020

c. The format and language of this manuscript should be carefully checked, as there are many unnecessary typos. For instance, this manuscript was not converted to a specific ACP template. Instead, it confusingly shows" for review in remote sensing of environment". And, throughout the manuscript, 2.5 in "PM2.5" is not presented in a subscript format, which should be completely checked and revised. And other language issues should also be addressed through a more careful proof-reading.

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RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (24 Mar 2021)

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (24 Mar 2021) by Zhanqing Li

AR by Sundar Christopher on behalf of the Authors (20 Apr 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (24 Apr 2021) by Zhanqing Li

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (07 May 2021)

RR by Anonymous Referee #4 (07 May 2021)

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (17 May 2021) by Zhanqing Li

AR by Sundar Christopher on behalf of the Authors (07 Jun 2021) Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (08 Jun 2021) by Zhanqing Li

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (20 Jun 2021)

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (21 Jun 2021)

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (21 Jun 2021) by Zhanqing Li

AR by Sundar Christopher on behalf of the Authors (28 Jun 2021) Author's response Manuscript

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Short summary

Frequent and widespread wildfires in the northwestern United States and Canada have become the new normal during the Northern Hemisphere summer months, which degrades particulate matter air quality in the United States significantly. Using satellite data, we show that smoke aerosols caused significant pollution changes over half of the United States. We estimate that nearly 29 states have increased PM_2.5 during the fire-active year when compared to fire-inactive years.

Satellite-based estimation of the impacts of summertime wildfires on PM2.5 concentration in the United States

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Interactive discussion

Peer-review completion

Satellite-based estimation of the impacts of summertime wildfires on PM_2.5 concentration in the United States