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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, D15302, doi:10.1029/2006JD008344, 2007

A satellite- and model-based assessment of the 2003 Russian fires: Impact on the Arctic region

Sylvia Generoso

Laboratoire de Modélisation de la Chimie Atmosphérique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland


Isabelle Bey

Laboratoire de Modélisation de la Chimie Atmosphérique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland


Jean-Luc Attié

Laboratoire d'Aérologie, Toulouse, France


François-Marie Bréon

Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Gif-sur-Yvette, France


Abstract

In this paper, we address the issues of the representation of boreal fires in a global chemistry and transport model (GEOS-Chem) as well as their contribution to the Arctic aerosol optical thickness and black carbon (BC) deposition, with a focus on the 2003 Russian fires. We use satellite observations from the MOPITT, POLDER and MODIS sensors to evaluate the model performances in simulating the fire pollution export over the North Pacific. Our results show that aerosol and carbon monoxide (CO) outflow is best reproduced in our model when fire emissions are (1) increased to 72 Tg for CO, 0.5 Tg C for BC, and 5.3 Tg C for organic carbon over the entire fire season; (2) prescribed on a daily basis; and (3) injected up to 4.5 km in July and August. The use of daily, rather than monthly, biomass burning emission inventories improves significantly the representation of the aerosol outflow, but has little impact on CO. The injection of fire emissions above the boundary layer influences both the CO and aerosol columns but only during the late fire season. The model improvements with respect to the standard configuration induce an increase of a factor up to 2 on the aerosol optical thickness and the mass of BC deposited in the Northern Hemisphere. According to our improved simulation, the 2003 Russian fires contributed to 16–33% of the aerosol optical thickness and to 40–56% of the mass of BC deposited, north of 75°N in spring and summer. They contribute to the aerosol optical thickness by more than 30% during the days of Arctic haze events in spring and summer.

Received 13 December 2006; accepted 2 May 2007; published 2 August 2007.

Keywords: biomass burning; long-range transport; Arctic.

Index Terms: 0365 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry; 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906); 0368 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry; 9315 Geographic Location: Arctic region (0718, 4207).

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Citation: Generoso, S., I. Bey, J.-L. Attié, and F.-M. Bréon (2007), A satellite- and model-based assessment of the 2003 Russian fires: Impact on the Arctic region, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D15302, doi:10.1029/2006JD008344.