Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires

Erik Lutsch; Kimberly Strong; Dylan B.A. Jones; Ivan Ortega; James W. Hannigan; Enrico Dammers; Mark W. Shephard; Eleanor Morris; Killian Murphy; Mathew J. Evans; Mark Parrington; Simon Whitburn; Martin Van Damme; Lieven Clarisse; Pierre-Francois Coheur; Cathy Clerbaux; Betty Croft; Randall V. Martin; Jeffrey R. Pierce; Jenny A. Fisher

doi:10.1029/2019JD030419

Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires

Erik Lutsch, Kimberly Strong, Dylan B.A. Jones, Ivan Ortega, James W. Hannigan, Enrico Dammers, Mark W. Shephard, Eleanor Morris, Killian Murphy, Mathew J. Evans, Mark Parrington, Simon Whitburn, Martin Van Damme, Lieven Clarisse, Pierre-Francois Coheur, Cathy Clerbaux, Betty Croft, Randall V. Martin, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Jenny A. Fisher

Chemistry

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

Abstract

Abstract From 17-22 August 2017 simultaneous enhancements of ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and ethane (C2H6) were detected from ground-based solar absorption Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements at two high-Arctic sites: Eureka (80.05°N, 86.42°W) Nunavut, Canada and Thule (76.53°N, 68.74°W), Greenland. These enhancements were attributed to wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada using FLEXPART back-trajectories and fire locations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and found to be the greatest observed enhancements in more than a decade of measurements at Eureka (2006-2017) and Thule (1999-2017). Observations of gas-phase NH3 from these wildfires illustrates that boreal wildfires may be a considerable episodic source of NH3 in the summertime high Arctic. Comparisons of GEOS-Chem model simulations using the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) biomass burning emissions to FTIR measurements and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements showed that the transport of wildfire emissions to the Arctic was underestimated in GEOS-Chem. However, GEOS-Chem simulations showed that these wildfires contributed to surface-layer NH3 and enhancements of 0.01-0.11 ppbv and 0.05-1.07 ppbv, respectively, over the Canadian Archipelago from 15-23 August 2017.

Original language	English
Number of pages	25
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Early online date	8 Jul 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030419
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 8 Jul 2019

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Ammonia, Arctic, FTIR, NDACC, PEARL, Wildfires

Access to Document

10.1029/2019JD030419

Lutsch_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Atmospheres
©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details
Final published version, 17.6 MB

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019JD030419

Cite this

Lutsch, E., Strong, K., Jones, D. B. A., Ortega, I., Hannigan, J. W., Dammers, E., Shephard, M. W., Morris, E., Murphy, K., Evans, M. J., Parrington, M., Whitburn, S., Van Damme, M., Clarisse, L., Coheur, P.-F., Clerbaux, C., Croft, B., Martin, R. V., Pierce, J. R., & Fisher, J. A. (2019). Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030419

@article{ed5ebcf03f5d44dbac9863336fee31e9,

title = "Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires",

abstract = "Abstract From 17-22 August 2017 simultaneous enhancements of ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and ethane (C2H6) were detected from ground-based solar absorption Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements at two high-Arctic sites: Eureka (80.05°N, 86.42°W) Nunavut, Canada and Thule (76.53°N, 68.74°W), Greenland. These enhancements were attributed to wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada using FLEXPART back-trajectories and fire locations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and found to be the greatest observed enhancements in more than a decade of measurements at Eureka (2006-2017) and Thule (1999-2017). Observations of gas-phase NH3 from these wildfires illustrates that boreal wildfires may be a considerable episodic source of NH3 in the summertime high Arctic. Comparisons of GEOS-Chem model simulations using the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) biomass burning emissions to FTIR measurements and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements showed that the transport of wildfire emissions to the Arctic was underestimated in GEOS-Chem. However, GEOS-Chem simulations showed that these wildfires contributed to surface-layer NH3 and enhancements of 0.01-0.11 ppbv and 0.05-1.07 ppbv, respectively, over the Canadian Archipelago from 15-23 August 2017.",

keywords = "Ammonia, Arctic, FTIR, NDACC, PEARL, Wildfires",

author = "Erik Lutsch and Kimberly Strong and Jones, {Dylan B.A.} and Ivan Ortega and Hannigan, {James W.} and Enrico Dammers and Shephard, {Mark W.} and Eleanor Morris and Killian Murphy and Evans, {Mathew J.} and Mark Parrington and Simon Whitburn and {Van Damme}, Martin and Lieven Clarisse and Pierre-Francois Coheur and Cathy Clerbaux and Betty Croft and Martin, {Randall V.} and Pierce, {Jeffrey R.} and Fisher, {Jenny A.}",

note = "{\textcopyright}2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher{\textquoteright}s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details",

year = "2019",

month = jul,

day = "8",

doi = "10.1029/2019JD030419",

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres",

issn = "2169-897X",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

}

Lutsch, E, Strong, K, Jones, DBA, Ortega, I, Hannigan, JW, Dammers, E, Shephard, MW, Morris, E, Murphy, K, Evans, MJ, Parrington, M, Whitburn, S, Van Damme, M, Clarisse, L, Coheur, P-F, Clerbaux, C, Croft, B, Martin, RV, Pierce, JR & Fisher, JA 2019, 'Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires', Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030419

TY - JOUR

T1 - Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires

AU - Lutsch, Erik

AU - Strong, Kimberly

AU - Jones, Dylan B.A.

AU - Ortega, Ivan

AU - Hannigan, James W.

AU - Dammers, Enrico

AU - Shephard, Mark W.

AU - Morris, Eleanor

AU - Murphy, Killian

AU - Evans, Mathew J.

AU - Parrington, Mark

AU - Whitburn, Simon

AU - Van Damme, Martin

AU - Clarisse, Lieven

AU - Coheur, Pierre-Francois

AU - Clerbaux, Cathy

AU - Croft, Betty

AU - Martin, Randall V.

AU - Pierce, Jeffrey R.

AU - Fisher, Jenny A.

PY - 2019/7/8

Y1 - 2019/7/8

N2 - Abstract From 17-22 August 2017 simultaneous enhancements of ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and ethane (C2H6) were detected from ground-based solar absorption Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements at two high-Arctic sites: Eureka (80.05°N, 86.42°W) Nunavut, Canada and Thule (76.53°N, 68.74°W), Greenland. These enhancements were attributed to wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada using FLEXPART back-trajectories and fire locations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and found to be the greatest observed enhancements in more than a decade of measurements at Eureka (2006-2017) and Thule (1999-2017). Observations of gas-phase NH3 from these wildfires illustrates that boreal wildfires may be a considerable episodic source of NH3 in the summertime high Arctic. Comparisons of GEOS-Chem model simulations using the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) biomass burning emissions to FTIR measurements and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements showed that the transport of wildfire emissions to the Arctic was underestimated in GEOS-Chem. However, GEOS-Chem simulations showed that these wildfires contributed to surface-layer NH3 and enhancements of 0.01-0.11 ppbv and 0.05-1.07 ppbv, respectively, over the Canadian Archipelago from 15-23 August 2017.

AB - Abstract From 17-22 August 2017 simultaneous enhancements of ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and ethane (C2H6) were detected from ground-based solar absorption Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements at two high-Arctic sites: Eureka (80.05°N, 86.42°W) Nunavut, Canada and Thule (76.53°N, 68.74°W), Greenland. These enhancements were attributed to wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada using FLEXPART back-trajectories and fire locations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and found to be the greatest observed enhancements in more than a decade of measurements at Eureka (2006-2017) and Thule (1999-2017). Observations of gas-phase NH3 from these wildfires illustrates that boreal wildfires may be a considerable episodic source of NH3 in the summertime high Arctic. Comparisons of GEOS-Chem model simulations using the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) biomass burning emissions to FTIR measurements and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements showed that the transport of wildfire emissions to the Arctic was underestimated in GEOS-Chem. However, GEOS-Chem simulations showed that these wildfires contributed to surface-layer NH3 and enhancements of 0.01-0.11 ppbv and 0.05-1.07 ppbv, respectively, over the Canadian Archipelago from 15-23 August 2017.

KW - Ammonia, Arctic, FTIR, NDACC, PEARL, Wildfires

U2 - 10.1029/2019JD030419

DO - 10.1029/2019JD030419

M3 - Article

SN - 2169-897X

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

ER -