Global Wildfire Plume‐Rise Data Set and Parameterizations for Climate Model Applications. Issue 6 (19th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ke, Ziming; Wang, Yuhang; Zou, Yufei; Song, Yongjia; Liu, Yongqiang
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 126:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-03-19
• Subjects: atmosphere -- black carbon -- CESM -- climate modeling -- fire plumes -- wildfires; Atmospheric physics -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 551.5
• DOI: 10.1029/2020JD033085
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-897X

Abstract

Abstract: The fire plume height (smoke injection height) is an important parameter for calculating the transport and lifetime of smoke particles, which can significantly affect regional and global air quality and atmospheric radiation budget. To develop an observation‐based global fire plume‐rise data set, a modified one‐dimensional plume‐rise model was used with observation‐based fire size and Maximum Fire Radiative Power (MFRP) data, which are derived from satellite fire hotspot measurements. The resulting data set captured well the observed plume height distribution derived from the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) measurements. The fraction of fire plumes penetrating above the boundary layer is relatively low at 20% at the time of MISR observation (10:30 am LT) but increases to an average of ∼55% in the late afternoon, implying that the MISR observation data sampled in late morning underestimate the average daytime fire plume heights and plume mixing into the free troposphere. Therefore, adjustments are required through dynamic modeling or parameterization of fire plume height as a function of meteorological and fire conditions when the MISR data set is applied in climate model simulations. We conducted sensitivity simulations using the Community Atmospheric Models version 5 (CAM5). Model results show that the incorporation of fire plume rise in the model tends to significantly increase fire aerosol impacted regions. We applied the offline plume‐rise data to develop an online fire plume height parameterization, allowing for simulating the feedbacks of climate/weather on fire plume rise in climate models. Plain Language Summary: The wildfire smoke injection height is important to study the lifetime and transport capacity of smoke particles. This study developed a long‐term global wildfire injection height data set, which has been well evaluated and applied to global climate model simulation. For fully coupled atmosphere‐land simulation purposes, implementation has been developed for the climate model to generate injection height at each time step. The fire plume height (smoke injection height) is important for calculating the transport and lifetime of smoke particles. A modified one‐dimensional plume‐rise model was used with observation‐based fire size and Maximum Fire Radiative Power (MFRP) data. The resulting data set captured well the observed plume height distribution. The simulated plume penetration rate suggests higher fire emission mixed in the free troposphere in the late afternoon. We conducted sensitivity simulations using the Community Atmospheric Models version 5 (CAM5). In downwind regions, model results show that the incorporation of fire plume rise tends to increase fire aerosol transport. Additionally, we develop an online fire plume height parameterization, allowing for simulating the feedbacks of climate/weather on fire plume rise in climate models. Key Points: An observation‐based fire plume height data set is developed for 2002–2010. It is in general agreement with global Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiomete observations Late morning satellite observations tend to underestimate the fraction of fire plumes reaching the free troposphere during the day Modeling using online fire plume‐rise parameterizations based on this data set shows extensive free‐tropospheric transport of fire aerosols