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Prescribed Grassland Burning Smoke Emission Measurements in the Northern Flint Hills Region
Citation:
Wilkins, J., K. Baker, M. Landis, J. Aurell, AND B. Gullett. Prescribed Grassland Burning Smoke Emission Measurements in the Northern Flint Hills Region. 2017 AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA, December 11 - 15, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
Researchers from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS), and Kansas State University conducted a prescribed burn study focusing on smoke plume dynamics and chemistry in the Flint Hills region (KRX) during March 13-22, 2017. KPBS (39°05’ N, 96°35’ W) is a 3,487 ha native tallgrass prairie preserve (http://kpbs.konza.k-state.edu/). Plumes were observed using Ceilometers (CL-51) and a scanning Mini Micro Pulse Lidar (MiniMPL) for 17 tall Prairie grass plots <300 acres (121 ha), the total area burned ~1500 acres (607 ha). Potential uses for the data: characterizing plumes from small fires, evaluating air quality models, and development of plume rise algorithms
Description:
Historically, frequent wildfires were essential for the maintenance of native prairie fire adapted ecosystems. Today prescribed fires are used to control invasive woody species and potentially improve forage production in these same prairie ecosystems for the beef-cattle industry. The emission of primary particulate matter, secondary aerosol, ozone precursors, and air toxics from prescribed grassland burning operations has been implicated as drivers of downwind air quality problems across a multi-state area. A field study was carried out 13-22 March 2017 at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Kansas to quantify prescribed burn smoke emissions using both surface and aerial sampling platforms to better constrain emissions rates for organic and inorganic pollutants. Multiple prescribed burns on tallgrass prairie fields less than 300 acres in the northern Flint Hills ecoregion were carried out. An array of measurement systems was deployed to quantify a suite of continuous and integrated air pollution parameters, combustion conditions, meteorological parameters, and plume dynamics to calculate more accurate and condition-specific emission factors that will be used to better predict primary and secondary pollutants both locally and regionally. Here we show a new experimental set up for capturing smoke plumes using a scanning Mini MicroPulse Lidar and Ceilometers (CL-51). These emissions measurements will allow for evaluation and improvement of the U.S. Forest Service’s Bluesky modeling framework which includes the Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS) and Fuel characterization classification system (FCCS). Elucidating grassland prescribed burning emission factors based on fuel type, loading, and environmental conditions is expected to provide an improved understanding of the impact of this land management practice on air quality in the greater Flint Hills region. It is also expected that measurements will help constrain and develop better routines for fire plume rise, vertical allocation, and smoke optical properties.
