Skip to Content

The Impact of Model Resolution on Wildfire Ozone Production

Wildfires impact property, air quality, the atmosphere, the biosphere, and they are becoming more impactful under climate change. In this work, we study the impact of wildfires on tropospheric ozone, with a focus on the influence of model resolution on the simulated ozone response to the fires. Numerical dilution in coarse models can shift chemical regimes, such as the NOx-Hydrocarbon regime that determines ozone production. Resolution effects on meteorology and the transport of wildfire emissions can also affect models’ representations of wildfire ozone production. In this presentation I investigate a 2021 fire near Red Lake, Ontario. While some Boreal wildfires have enhanced ozone production over the fire, I show that NOx (= NO + NO2), a major ozone precursor, may be sequestered during the Red Lake fire leading to low local ozone production, higher production of NOx sinks, and likely enhanced ozone production downwind.

Host: Eylon Vakrat
Event series  Brewer-Wilson Seminar Series