Published in:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16 (2016) 11, Seite 6757-6770
Language:
English
DOI:
10.5194/acp-16-6757-2016
ISSN:
1680-7324
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>Abstract. Extensive forest fires occurred during late July 2014 across the forested region of Siberia, Russia. Smoke plumes emitted from Siberian forest fires underwent long-range transport over Mongolia and northeast China to the Korean Peninsula, which is located ∼ 3000 km south of the Siberian forest. A notably high aerosol optical depth of ∼ 4 was observed at a wavelength of 500 nm near the source of the Siberian forest fires. Smoke plumes reached 3–5 km in height near the source and fell below 2 km over the Korean Peninsula. Elevated concentrations of levoglucosan were observed (119.7 ± 6.0 ng m−3), which were ∼ 4.5 times higher than those observed during non-event periods in July 2014. During the middle of July 2014, a haze episode occurred that was primarily caused by the long-range transport of emission plumes originating from urban and industrial complexes in East China. Sharp increases in SO42− concentrations (23.1 ± 2.1 µg m−3) were observed during this episode. The haze caused by the long-range transport of Siberian forest fire emissions was clearly identified by relatively high organic carbon (OC) ∕ elemental carbon (EC) ratios (7.18 ± 0.2) and OC ∕ SO42− ratios (1.31 ± 0.07) compared with those of the Chinese haze episode (OC ∕ EC ratio: 2.4 ± 0.4; OC ∕ SO42− ratio: 0.21 ± 0.05). Remote measurement techniques and chemical analyses of the haze plumes clearly show that the haze episode that occurred during late July 2014 was caused mainly by the long-range transport of smoke plumes emitted from Siberian forest fires.
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