Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England

A. M. Graham; R. J. Pope; J. B. McQuaid; K. P. Pringle; S. R. Arnold; A. G. Bruno; D. P. Moore; J. J. Harrison; M. P. Chipperfield; R. Rigby; A. Sanchez-Marroquin; J. Lee; S. Wilde; R. Siddans; B. J. Kerridge; L. J. Ventress; B. G. Latter

doi:10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England

A. M. Graham^*, R. J. Pope, J. B. McQuaid, K. P. Pringle, S. R. Arnold, A. G. Bruno, D. P. Moore, J. J. Harrison, M. P. Chipperfield, R. Rigby, A. Sanchez-Marroquin, J. Lee, S. Wilde, R. Siddans, B. J. Kerridge, L. J. Ventress, B. G. Latter

^*Corresponding author for this work

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

Abstract

The June 2018 Saddleworth Moor fires were some of the largest UK wildfires on record and lasted for approximately three weeks. They emitted large quantities of smoke, trace gases and aerosols which were transported downwind over the highly populated regions of Manchester and Liverpool. Surface observations of PM_2.5 indicate that concentrations were 4–5.5 times higher than the recent seasonal average. State-of-the-art satellite measurements of total column carbon monoxide (TCCO) from the TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5—Precursor (S5P) platform, coupled with measurements from a flight of the UK BAe-146–301 research aircraft, are used to quantify the substantial enhancement in emitted trace gases. The aircraft measured plume enhancements with near-fire CO and PM_2.5 concentrations >1500 ppbv and >125 μgm⁻³ (compared to ∼100 ppbv and ∼5 μgm⁻³ background concentrations). Downwind fire-plume ozone (O₃) values were larger than the near-fire location, indicating O₃ production with distance from source. The near-fire O₃:CO ratio was (ΔO₃/ΔCO) 0.001 ppbv/ppbv, increasing downwind to 0.060–0.105 ppbv/ppbv, suggestive of O₃ production enhancement downwind of the fires. Emission rates of CO and CO₂ ranged between 1.07 (0.07–4.69) kg s⁻¹ and 13.7 (1.73–50.1) kg s⁻¹, respectively, similar to values expected from a medium sized power station.

Original language	English
Article number	031001
Journal	Environmental Research Communications
Volume	2
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92
Publication status	Published - 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA?s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146?301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA’s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146–301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Keywords

Air quality
Aircraft observations
AURN
Earth observation
FAAM
TROPOMI
Wildfire

Access to Document

10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

Cite this

Graham, A. M., Pope, R. J., McQuaid, J. B., Pringle, K. P., Arnold, S. R., Bruno, A. G., Moore, D. P., Harrison, J. J., Chipperfield, M. P., Rigby, R., Sanchez-Marroquin, A., Lee, J., Wilde, S., Siddans, R., Kerridge, B. J., Ventress, L. J., & Latter, B. G. (2020). Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England. Environmental Research Communications, 2(3), Article 031001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

@article{4a6b8fafbcc34f7e8e3fabc1ba289c32,

title = "Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England",

abstract = "The June 2018 Saddleworth Moor fires were some of the largest UK wildfires on record and lasted for approximately three weeks. They emitted large quantities of smoke, trace gases and aerosols which were transported downwind over the highly populated regions of Manchester and Liverpool. Surface observations of PM2.5 indicate that concentrations were 4–5.5 times higher than the recent seasonal average. State-of-the-art satellite measurements of total column carbon monoxide (TCCO) from the TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5—Precursor (S5P) platform, coupled with measurements from a flight of the UK BAe-146–301 research aircraft, are used to quantify the substantial enhancement in emitted trace gases. The aircraft measured plume enhancements with near-fire CO and PM2.5 concentrations >1500 ppbv and >125 μgm−3 (compared to ∼100 ppbv and ∼5 μgm−3 background concentrations). Downwind fire-plume ozone (O3) values were larger than the near-fire location, indicating O3 production with distance from source. The near-fire O3:CO ratio was (ΔO3/ΔCO) 0.001 ppbv/ppbv, increasing downwind to 0.060–0.105 ppbv/ppbv, suggestive of O3 production enhancement downwind of the fires. Emission rates of CO and CO2 ranged between 1.07 (0.07–4.69) kg s−1 and 13.7 (1.73–50.1) kg s−1, respectively, similar to values expected from a medium sized power station.",

keywords = "Air quality, Aircraft observations, AURN, Earth observation, FAAM, TROPOMI, Wildfire",

author = "Graham, {A. M.} and Pope, {R. J.} and McQuaid, {J. B.} and Pringle, {K. P.} and Arnold, {S. R.} and Bruno, {A. G.} and Moore, {D. P.} and Harrison, {J. J.} and Chipperfield, {M. P.} and R. Rigby and A. Sanchez-Marroquin and J. Lee and S. Wilde and R. Siddans and Kerridge, {B. J.} and Ventress, {L. J.} and Latter, {B. G.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA?s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146?301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication. Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA{\textquoteright}s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146–301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

journal = "Environmental Research Communications",

issn = "2515-7620",

publisher = "IOP Publishing",

number = "3",

}

Graham, AM, Pope, RJ, McQuaid, JB, Pringle, KP, Arnold, SR, Bruno, AG, Moore, DP, Harrison, JJ, Chipperfield, MP, Rigby, R, Sanchez-Marroquin, A, Lee, J , Wilde, S, Siddans, R, Kerridge, BJ, Ventress, LJ & Latter, BG 2020, 'Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England', Environmental Research Communications, vol. 2, no. 3, 031001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England

AU - Graham, A. M.

AU - Pope, R. J.

AU - McQuaid, J. B.

AU - Pringle, K. P.

AU - Arnold, S. R.

AU - Bruno, A. G.

AU - Moore, D. P.

AU - Harrison, J. J.

AU - Chipperfield, M. P.

AU - Rigby, R.

AU - Sanchez-Marroquin, A.

AU - Lee, J.

AU - Wilde, S.

AU - Siddans, R.

AU - Kerridge, B. J.

AU - Ventress, L. J.

AU - Latter, B. G.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA?s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146?301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication. Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) by providing funding for the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) through grant number NE/R016518/1. The contribution of Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin has been supported by the European Research Council (MarineIce (grant no. 648661)). Surface pressure reanalysis charts from the UK Met Office were accessed from University of Leeds archive. Surface PM2.5 concentration observations were taken from the AURN network via https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ . The TROPOMI total column CO and tropospheric column NO2 data were obtained from ESA’s Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/) and the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS, http://temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html), respectively. MODIS fire radiative power (FRP) data was provided by the ECMWF Global Fire Assimilation System (https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/cams-gfas/). ECMWF ERA-Interim meteorological reanalysis data came from https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/ data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc/. The Saddleworth Moor aircraft data were taken using the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146–301 Large Atmospheric Research Aircraft and are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at https://old.faam.ac.uk/index.php/data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The June 2018 Saddleworth Moor fires were some of the largest UK wildfires on record and lasted for approximately three weeks. They emitted large quantities of smoke, trace gases and aerosols which were transported downwind over the highly populated regions of Manchester and Liverpool. Surface observations of PM2.5 indicate that concentrations were 4–5.5 times higher than the recent seasonal average. State-of-the-art satellite measurements of total column carbon monoxide (TCCO) from the TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5—Precursor (S5P) platform, coupled with measurements from a flight of the UK BAe-146–301 research aircraft, are used to quantify the substantial enhancement in emitted trace gases. The aircraft measured plume enhancements with near-fire CO and PM2.5 concentrations >1500 ppbv and >125 μgm−3 (compared to ∼100 ppbv and ∼5 μgm−3 background concentrations). Downwind fire-plume ozone (O3) values were larger than the near-fire location, indicating O3 production with distance from source. The near-fire O3:CO ratio was (ΔO3/ΔCO) 0.001 ppbv/ppbv, increasing downwind to 0.060–0.105 ppbv/ppbv, suggestive of O3 production enhancement downwind of the fires. Emission rates of CO and CO2 ranged between 1.07 (0.07–4.69) kg s−1 and 13.7 (1.73–50.1) kg s−1, respectively, similar to values expected from a medium sized power station.

AB - The June 2018 Saddleworth Moor fires were some of the largest UK wildfires on record and lasted for approximately three weeks. They emitted large quantities of smoke, trace gases and aerosols which were transported downwind over the highly populated regions of Manchester and Liverpool. Surface observations of PM2.5 indicate that concentrations were 4–5.5 times higher than the recent seasonal average. State-of-the-art satellite measurements of total column carbon monoxide (TCCO) from the TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5—Precursor (S5P) platform, coupled with measurements from a flight of the UK BAe-146–301 research aircraft, are used to quantify the substantial enhancement in emitted trace gases. The aircraft measured plume enhancements with near-fire CO and PM2.5 concentrations >1500 ppbv and >125 μgm−3 (compared to ∼100 ppbv and ∼5 μgm−3 background concentrations). Downwind fire-plume ozone (O3) values were larger than the near-fire location, indicating O3 production with distance from source. The near-fire O3:CO ratio was (ΔO3/ΔCO) 0.001 ppbv/ppbv, increasing downwind to 0.060–0.105 ppbv/ppbv, suggestive of O3 production enhancement downwind of the fires. Emission rates of CO and CO2 ranged between 1.07 (0.07–4.69) kg s−1 and 13.7 (1.73–50.1) kg s−1, respectively, similar to values expected from a medium sized power station.

KW - Air quality

KW - Aircraft observations

KW - AURN

KW - Earth observation

KW - FAAM

KW - TROPOMI

KW - Wildfire

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107330284&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

DO - 10.1088/2515-7620/ab7b92

M3 - Letter

AN - SCOPUS:85107330284

SN - 2515-7620

VL - 2

JO - Environmental Research Communications

JF - Environmental Research Communications

IS - 3

M1 - 031001

ER -

Impact of the june 2018 saddleworth moor wildfires on air quality in Northern England

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Bibliographical note

Keywords

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