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Satellite-Derived Nitrogen Dioxide Variations from Biomass Burning in a Subtropical Evergreen Forest, Northeast India
Published in Prasad S. Thenkabail, Remote Sensing Handbook, 2015
Krishna Prasad Vadrevu, Kristofer Lasko
Biomass burning is an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and aerosols including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), ammonia (NH4), and volatile organic compounds (Andreae and Merlet, 2001). Global annual areas burned for the years 1997 through 2011 vary from 301 to 377 Mha, with an average of 348 Mha (Giglio et al., 2013). Of the different regions, tropical Asia is considered a major source of biomass burning (Streets et al., 2003; Vadrevu and Justice, 2011). Important sources of biomass burning emissions in tropical Asia include deforestation (van Der Werf et al., 2008), slash-and-burn agriculture (Prasad et al., 2000; Langner et al., 2007), agricultural residue burning (Badarinath et al., 2009; Vadrevu et al., 2011; 2012; Cheewaphongphan and Garivait, 2013), management fires (Murdiyarso and Level, 2007), and peat land burning (Heil et al., 2007). Present estimates suggest that globally, wildfires contribute about 20% of the fossil fuel carbon emissions to the atmosphere and global fire emissions averaged over 1997–2009 amount to 2.0 Pg C year−1 (van der Werf et al., 2010). It is estimated that carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NOx) emissions from fires comprise approximately 30% and 15% of global total direct emissions, respectively (Jaeglé et al., 2005; Müller and Stavrakou, 2005; Arellano et al., 2006). Enhanced CO and NOx concentrations can impact tropospheric ozone formation and affect the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere by regulating the hydroxide lifetime (Logan et al., 1981). Aerosols released from the biomass burning can be elevated by midlatitude wave cyclones and sometimes can travel long distances to possibly influence climate and weather patterns. Specific to climate impacts, Wang et al. (2014) have shown that Asian pollution invigorates winter cyclones over the northwest Pacific, increasing precipitation by 7% and net cloud radiative forcing by 1.0 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere and by 1.7 W m−2 at the Earth’s surface. No single system can provide all the necessary data, and to address air quality and climate impacts of GHGs, several studies infer the need to integrate both top-down and bottom-up approaches including modeling (Martin et al., 2002).
Bioaerosol field measurements: Challenges and perspectives in outdoor studies
Published in Aerosol Science and Technology, 2020
Tina Šantl-Temkiv, Branko Sikoparija, Teruya Maki, Federico Carotenuto, Pierre Amato, Maosheng Yao, Cindy E. Morris, Russ Schnell, Ruprecht Jaenicke, Christopher Pöhlker, Paul J. DeMott, Thomas C. J. Hill, J. Alex Huffman
Climate-relevant properties: Finally, there is a pressing need to obtain a functional understanding of the environmental, climatic, health, and economical importance of bioaerosol hygroscopicity, cloud droplet activation, and ice nucleation. Aside from their climate impacts, the hygroscopic properties of bioaerosols, for example, impact deposition in the lungs and can thus have health impacts. Hygroscopicity also influences allergenic pollen deposition and thus their spatiotemporal distribution (Sofiev et al. 2006). Finally, liquid water droplet activation and ice nucleation activity impact atmospheric residence time and deposition rates, which leads to effects on colonization. An improved understanding of the physicochemical processes of water activation and ice nucleation on bioaerosol surfaces is required. To better understand the effects of bio-INPs on cloud formation and evolution, cloud radiative forcing, and the hydrological cycle, expanded input of measurement data to both global and regional models is needed. This necessitates close collaboration between modeling and measurement communities to streamline efforts for inclusion of the most cloud-relevant properties (i.e., simplified size distributions of INPs active at specific temperatures).