Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5719-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5719-2021
Research article
 | 
15 Apr 2021
Research article |  | 15 Apr 2021

Chemical composition of PM2.5 in October 2017 Northern California wildfire plumes

Yutong Liang, Coty N. Jen, Robert J. Weber, Pawel K. Misztal, and Allen H. Goldstein

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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. 
Alam, M. S. and Harrison, R. M.: Recent advances in the application of 2-dimensional gas chromatography with soft and hard ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry in environmental analysis, Chem. Sci., 7, 3968–3977, https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sc00465b, 2016. 
Alvarado, M. J., Lonsdale, C. R., Yokelson, R. J., Akagi, S. K., Coe, H., Craven, J. S., Fischer, E. V., McMeeking, G. R., Seinfeld, J. H., Soni, T., Taylor, J. W., Weise, D. R., and Wold, C. E.: Investigating the links between ozone and organic aerosol chemistry in a biomass burning plume from a prescribed fire in California chaparral, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6667–6688, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6667-2015, 2015. 
Andreae, M. O.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning – an updated assessment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8523–8546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8523-2019, 2019. 
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This article reports the molecular composition of smoke particles people in SF Bay Area were exposed to during northern California wildfires in Oct. 2017. Major components are sugars, acids, aromatics, and terpenoids. These observations can be used to better understand health impacts of smoke exposure. Tracer compounds indicate which fuels burned, including diterpenoids for softwood and syringyls for hardwood. A statistical analysis reveals a group of secondary compounds formed in daytime aging.
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