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Biomass Burning Emissions – The Importance of Reducing Uncertainties for Improved Regulatory Decision; an EPA Perspective
Citation:
SZYKMAN, J., J. KORDZI, G. POULIOT, T. E. PIERCE, T. PACE, AND S. T. RAO. Biomass Burning Emissions – The Importance of Reducing Uncertainties for Improved Regulatory Decision; an EPA Perspective . Presented at AGU Fall 2009, San Francisco, CA, December 17, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation materials
Description:
Biomass burning emissions from wildland and prescribed fires can have far reaching impacts in several of EPA’s regulatory programs under the Clean Air Act, ultimately affecting decisions on actions taken under State Implementation Plans (SIPs), and programs such as Visibility and Regional Haze, Interstate Transport and Conformity. In most instances the EPA’s National Emissions Inventory (NEI), which is developed in conjunction with other federal, state, local, and tribal agencies is a cornerstone used to support air quality decision making. Over the past several years estimated wildland and prescribed fire emissions in the NEI have evolved from a crude, state-based, climatology to fire-specific, daily-resolved estimates primarily through the use of satellite measurements. In addition to research within EPA, external research partners are providing improved knowledge in areas such as chemical composition of smoke, plume rise measurements via satellites, and the development of improved emission algorithms. Accurate inputs to characterize and model the daily and hourly biomass burning emissions across the US are necessary to reduce the uncertainty in characterizing the emissions, transport, and transformation of gases and particles from their source, with the end goal of categorizing biomass burning emissions within the EPA’s regulatory structure. Reducing the uncertainty will lead to improved decision making as this information is used to support the development and implementation of EPA’s air regulatory programs. This is especially true under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) where averaging times for particulate matter (PM), ozone, and the new proposed NO2 standard are at 24 hours or less, where accurate resolution of fire emissions is critical in understanding receptor impacts. This talk will highlight the impacts of wildland and prescribed fires within EPA’s regulatory program and importance of continued research to reduce the uncertainly in the areas of chemical speciation, emission factors, plume rise, fuel loading, and fire behavior modeling.