Articles | Volume 21, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021
Research article
 | 
08 Nov 2021
Research article |  | 08 Nov 2021

Nighttime and daytime dark oxidation chemistry in wildfire plumes: an observation and model analysis of FIREX-AQ aircraft data

Zachary C. J. Decker, Michael A. Robinson, Kelley C. Barsanti, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Frank M. Flocke, Alessandro Franchin, Carley D. Fredrickson, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah Halliday, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Ann M. Middlebrook, Denise D. Montzka, Richard Moore, J. Andrew Neuman, John B. Nowak, Brett B. Palm, Jeff Peischl, Felix Piel, Pamela S. Rickly, Andrew W. Rollins, Thomas B. Ryerson, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Kanako Sekimoto, Lee Thornhill, Joel A. Thornton, Geoffrey S. Tyndall, Kirk Ullmann, Paul Van Rooy, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elizabeth Wiggins, Edward Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Caroline Womack, and Steven S. Brown

Related authors

Age of smoke sampled by aircraft during FIREX-AQ: methods and critical evaluation
Christopher D. Holmes, Joshua P. Schwarz, Charles H. Fite, Anxhelo Agastra, Holly K. Nowell, Katherine Ball, T. Paul Bui, Johnathan Dean-Day, Zachary C. J. Decker, Joshua P. DiGagni, Glenn S. Diskin, Emily M. Gargulinski, Hannah Halliday, Shobha Kondragunta, John B. Nowak, David A. Peterson, Michael A. Robinson, Amber J. Soja, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Chuanyu Xu, and Robert J. Yokelson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-307,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-307, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Chemical characterization of organic vapors from wood, straw, cow dung, and coal burning
Tiantian Wang, Jun Zhang, Houssni Lamkaddam, Kun Li, Ka Yuen Cheung, Lisa Kattner, Erlend Gammelsæter, Michael Bauer, Zachary C. J. Decker, Deepika Bhattu, Rujin Huang, Rob L. Modini, Jay G. Slowik, Imad El Haddad, Andre S. H. Prevot, and David M. Bell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2707–2724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2707-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2707-2025, 2025
Short summary
Soot aerosols from commercial aviation engines are poor ice-nucleating particles at cirrus cloud temperatures
Baptiste Testa, Lukas Durdina, Peter A. Alpert, Fabian Mahrt, Christopher H. Dreimol, Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig, Zachary C. J. Decker, Julien Anet, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4537–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, 2024
Short summary
The Fires, Asian, and Stratospheric Transport–Las Vegas Ozone Study (FAST-LVOS)
Andrew O. Langford, Christoph J. Senff, Raul J. Alvarez II, Ken C. Aikin, Sunil Baidar, Timothy A. Bonin, W. Alan Brewer, Jerome Brioude, Steven S. Brown, Joel D. Burley, Dani J. Caputi, Stephen A. Conley, Patrick D. Cullis, Zachary C. J. Decker, Stéphanie Evan, Guillaume Kirgis, Meiyun Lin, Mariusz Pagowski, Jeff Peischl, Irina Petropavlovskikh, R. Bradley Pierce, Thomas B. Ryerson, Scott P. Sandberg, Chance W. Sterling, Ann M. Weickmann, and Li Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1707–1737, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1707-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1707-2022, 2022
Short summary
Characterizing sources of high surface ozone events in the southwestern US with intensive field measurements and two global models
Li Zhang, Meiyun Lin, Andrew O. Langford, Larry W. Horowitz, Christoph J. Senff, Elizabeth Klovenski, Yuxuan Wang, Raul J. Alvarez II, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Patrick Cullis, Chance W. Sterling, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Steven S. Brown, Zachary C. J. Decker, Guillaume Kirgis, and Stephen Conley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10379–10400, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10379-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10379-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Observation and modeling of atmospheric OH and HO2 radicals at a subtropical rural site and implications for secondary pollutants
Zhouxing Zou, Tianshu Chen, Qianjie Chen, Weihang Sun, Shichun Han, Zhuoyue Ren, Xinyi Li, Wei Song, Aoqi Ge, Qi Wang, Xiao Tian, Chenglei Pei, Xinming Wang, Yanli Zhang, and Tao Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8147–8161, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8147-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8147-2025, 2025
Short summary
Tracing elevated abundance of CH2Cl2 in the subarctic upper troposphere to the Asian Summer Monsoon
Markus Jesswein, Valentin Lauther, Nicolas Emig, Peter Hoor, Timo Keber, Hans-Christoph Lachnitt, Linda Ort, Tanja Schuck, Johannes Strobel, Ronja Van Luijt, C. Michael Volk, Franziska Weyland, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8107–8126, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8107-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8107-2025, 2025
Short summary
Carbonyl compounds from typical combustion sources: emission characteristics, influencing factors, and their contribution to ozone formation
Yanjie Lu, Xinxin Feng, Yanli Feng, Minjun Jiang, Yu Peng, Tian Chen, and Yingjun Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8043–8059, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8043-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8043-2025, 2025
Short summary
Formation drivers and photochemical effects of ClNO2 in a coastal city of Southeast China
Gaojie Chen, Xiaolong Fan, Haichao Wang, Yee Jun Tham, Ziyi Lin, Xiaoting Ji, Lingling Xu, Baoye Hu, and Jinsheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7815–7828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7815-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7815-2025, 2025
Short summary
Significant influence of oxygenated volatile organic compounds on atmospheric chemistry: a case study in a typical industrial city in China
Jingwen Dai, Kun Zhang, Yanli Feng, Xin Yi, Rui Li, Jin Xue, Qing Li, Lishu Shi, Jiaqiang Liao, Yanan Yi, Fangting Wang, Liumei Yang, Hui Chen, Ling Huang, Jiani Tan, Yangjun Wang, and Li Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7467–7484, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7467-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7467-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Abatzoglou, J. T. and Williams, A. P.: Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 11770–11775, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607171113, 2016. 
Akagi, S. K., Yokelson, R. J., Wiedinmyer, C., Alvarado, M. J., Reid, J. S., Karl, T., Crounse, J. D., and Wennberg, P. O.: Emission factors for open and domestic biomass burning for use in atmospheric models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 4039–4072, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-4039-2011, 2011. 
Akherati, A., He, Y., Coggon, M. M., Koss, A. R., Hodshire, A. L., Sekimoto, K., Warneke, C., De Gouw, J., Yee, L., Seinfeld, J. H., Onasch, T. B., Herndon, S. C., Knighton, W. B., Cappa, C. D., Kleeman, M. J., Lim, C. Y., Kroll, J. H., Pierce, J. R., and Jathar, S. H.: Oxygenated Aromatic Compounds are Important Precursors of Secondary Organic Aerosol in Biomass-Burning Emissions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 8568–8579, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01345, 2020. 
Andreae, M. O. and Merlet, P.: Emissions of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning, Biogeochemistry, 15, 955–966, 2001. 
Atkinson, R., Baulch, D. L., Cox, R. A., Crowley, J. N., Hampson, R. F., Hynes, R. G., Jenkin, M. E., Rossi, M. J., Troe, J., and IUPAC Subcommittee: Evaluated kinetic and photochemical data for atmospheric chemistry: Volume II–gas phase reactions of organic species, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3625–4055, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-3625-2006, 2006. 
Download
Short summary
To understand air quality impacts from wildfires, we need an accurate picture of how wildfire smoke changes chemically both day and night as sunlight changes the chemistry of smoke. We present a chemical analysis of wildfire smoke as it changes from midday through the night. We use aircraft observations from the FIREX-AQ field campaign with a chemical box model. We find that even under sunlight typical nighttime chemistry thrives and controls the fate of key smoke plume chemical processes.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint