Wildland fire emission factors in North America: synthesis of existing data, measurement needs and management applications
Susan J. Prichard A E , Susan M. O’Neill B , Paige Eagle A , Anne G. Andreu A , Brian Drye A , Joel Dubowy A , Shawn Urbanski C and Tara M. Strand D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195-2100, USA.
B Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, 400 N. 34th Street, Seattle, WA 98103, USA.
C Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, 5775 W Broadway Street, Missoula, MT 59808, USA.
D Scion Research, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Rotorua 3010, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand.
E Corresponding author. Email: sprich@uw.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 29(2) 132-147 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF19066
Submitted: 24 April 2019 Accepted: 26 October 2019 Published: 7 January 2020
Journal Compilation © IAWF 2020 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Field and laboratory emission factors (EFs) of wildland fire emissions for 276 known air pollutants sampled across Canada and the US were compiled. An online database, the Smoke Emissions Repository Application (SERA), was created to enable analysis and summaries of existing EFs to be used in smoke management and emissions inventories. We evaluated how EFs of select pollutants (CO, CO2, CH4, NOx, total particulate matter (PM), PM2.5 and SO2) are influenced by combustion phase, burn type and fuel type. Of the 12 533 records in the database, over a third (n = 5637) are represented by 23 air pollutants, most designated as US Environmental Protection Agency criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gases, hazardous air pollutants or known air toxins. Among all pollutants in the database, including the most common pollutants PM, CO, CO2 and CH4, records are unevenly distributed with a bias towards flaming combustion, prescribed burning and laboratory measurements. Across all EFs, records are most common for south-eastern and western conifer forests and western shrubland types. Based on identified data gaps, we offer recommendations for future studies, including targeting underrepresented air pollutants, smouldering combustion phases and improved source characterisation of wildland fire emissions.
Additional keywords: air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, particulate matter, prescribed fire emissions, smoke management, wildfire emissions.
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