Persistent Influence of Wildfire Emissions in the Western United States and Characteristics of Aged Biomass Burning Organic Aerosols under Clean Air Conditions

Abstract

Wildfire-influenced air masses under regional background conditions were characterized at the Mt. Bachelor Observatory (∼2800 m a.s.l.) in summer 2019 to provide a better understanding of the aging of biomass burning organic aerosols (BBOAs) and their impacts on the remote troposphere in the western United States. Submicron aerosol (PM1) concentrations were low (average ± 1σ = 2.2 ± 1.9 μg sm-3), but oxidized BBOAs (average O/C = 0.84) were constantly detected throughout the study. The BBOA correlated well with black carbon, furfural, and acetonitrile and comprised above 50% of PM1 during plume events when the peak PM1 concentration reached 18.0 μg sm-3. Wildfire plumes with estimated transport times varying from ∼10 h to >10 days were identified. The plumes showed ΔOA/ΔCO values ranging from 0.038 to 0.122 ppb ppb-1 with a significant negative relation to plume age, indicating BBOA loss relative to CO during long-range transport. Additionally, increases of average O/C and aerosol sizes were seen in more aged plumes. The mass-based size mode was approximately 700 nm (Dva) in the most oxidized plume that likely originated in Siberia, suggesting aqueous-phase processing during transport. This work highlights the widespread impacts that wildfire emissions have on aerosol concentration and properties, and thus climate, in the western United States.