Biomass burning emissions in north Australia during the early dry season: an overview of the 2014 SAFIRED campaign

摘要

The SAFIRED (Savannah Fires in the Early Dry Season) campaign took place from29 May until 30 June 2014 at the AustralianTropical Atmospheric Research Station (ATARS) in the Northern Territory,Australia. The purpose of this campaign was to investigate emissions fromfires in the early dry season in northern Australia. Measurements were madeof biomass burning aerosols, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromaticcarbons, greenhouse gases, radon, speciated atmospheric mercury and tracemetals. Aspects of the biomass burning aerosol emissions investigatedincluded; emission factors of various species, physical and chemical aerosolproperties, aerosol aging, micronutrient supply to the ocean, nucleation, andaerosol water uptake. Over the course of the month-long campaign, biomassburning signals were prevalent and emissions from several large singleburning events were observed at ATARS.Biomass burning emissions dominated the gas and aerosol concentrations inthis region. Dry season fires are extremely frequent and widespread acrossthe northern region of Australia, which suggests that the measured aerosoland gaseous emissions at ATARS are likely representative of signals acrossthe entire region of north Australia. Air mass forward trajectories showthat these biomass burning emissions are carried north-west over the TimorSea and could influence the atmosphere over Indonesia and the tropicalatmosphere over the Indian Ocean. Here we present characteristics of thebiomass burning observed at the sampling site and provide an overview of themore specific outcomes of the SAFIRED campaign.