Observations and Impacts of Long-Range Transported Wildfire Smoke on Air Quality Across New York State During July 2021

Abstract

Wildfires are a significant source of PM2.5 that adversely affect local and regional air quality. However, tracking wildfire smoke and their impacts are difficult. This study explores how a ground-based Doppler lidar network can improve monitoring of long-range transported wildfire smoke. As a case study, this paper reviews the transported wildfire smoke and its impact on air quality across New York State (NYS) during two events: 18–21 and 25–27 July 2021. Observations of wildfire smoke and enhancement of PM2.5 across NYS during those events were consistent across ground-based sensors, satellites, back trajectory analyses, and model forecasts. However, for some of the days, the model over/under-forecasted smoke plumes. Overall, this study highlights the value of the NYS Mesonet Profiler Network to monitor wildfire smoke with high spatiotemporal resolution. Such a relatively dense network can be a valuable observational tool for evaluating PM2.5, and aiding satellite measurements and air quality forecasting models.