Smoke incursions into urban areas: simulation of a Georgia prescribed burn
Yongqiang Liu A D , Scott Goodrick A , Gary Achtemeier A , William A. Jackson B , John J. Qu C and Wanting Wang C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Center for Forest Disturbance Sciences, USDA Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 320 Green St, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
B National Forests in North Carolina, USDA Forest Service, 160A Zillicoa St, Asheville, NC 28802, USA.
C EastFIRE Laboratory, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive MS 6A2, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
D Corresponding author. Email: yliu@fs.fed.us
International Journal of Wildland Fire 18(3) 336-348 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08082
Submitted: 29 May 2007 Accepted: 24 June 2008 Published: 28 May 2009
Abstract
This study investigates smoke incursion into urban areas by examining a prescribed burn in central Georgia, USA, on 28 February 2007. Simulations were conducted with a regional modeling framework to understand transport, dispersion, and structure of smoke plumes, the air quality effects, sensitivity to emissions, and the roles of burn management strategy in mitigating the effects. The results indicate that smoke plumes first went west, but turned north-west at noon owing to a shift in wind direction. The smoke then invaded metropolitan Atlanta during the evening rush hour. The plumes caused severe air quality problems in Atlanta. Some hourly ground PM2.5 (particulate matter not greater than 2.5 μm in diameter) concentrations at three metropolitan Atlanta locations were three to four times as high as the daily (24-h) US National Ambient Air Quality Standard. The simulated shift in the smoke transport direction and the resultant effects on air quality are supported by the satellite and ambient air measurements. Two sensitivity simulations indicate a nearly linear relation between the emission intensities and PM2.5 concentrations. Two other simulations indicate that the impacts on air quality for the residents of Atlanta during the evening commute could have been reduced if the starting time of the burn had been altered.
Acknowledgements
The ground measurement and satellite data were obtained from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), respectively. The present study was supported by the USDA Forest Service National Fire Plan 01-SRS-A-1, the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service under grant number 2005–35112–15325, the US EPA STAR program under grant number RD-83227601, and the USDA SRS Cooperative-Agreement with George Mason University. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.
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