Anomalous wildfires in 2010 and 2012 on the territory of Russia and supply of black carbon to the Arctic

Model estimates of black carbon (BC) concentrations in air were performed for different regions of the Russian Arctic under the conditions of maximal wildfires during summers of 2010 and 2012 on the territory of Russia. Data available from the Federal Forestry Agency of the Russian Federation (Rosle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric and oceanic optics 2016-11, Vol.29 (6), p.545-550
Main Authors: Vinogradova, A. A., Smirnov, N. S., Korotkov, V. N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Anthropogenic factors
Atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric Radiation
Black carbon
Carbon
Climate
Combustion
Ecological monitoring
Flammability
Forest & brush fires
Forestry
Lasers
Nature reserves
Optical Devices
Optical Weather
Optics
Photonics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Polar environments
Pollutants
Pollution dispersion
Qualitative analysis
Territory
Wildfires
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Summary:Model estimates of black carbon (BC) concentrations in air were performed for different regions of the Russian Arctic under the conditions of maximal wildfires during summers of 2010 and 2012 on the territory of Russia. Data available from the Federal Forestry Agency of the Russian Federation (Rosleskhoz) on burning areas subject to fires (for different months of 2000–2013) were processed taking into account the quality of combustible material and different fire types. The developing atmospheric BC concentrations in the northern regions were calculated using the back trajectory statistics method for the Kola Peninsula, southeastern Arkhangelsk region, and Nenets, Gydan, and Ust-Lena Nature Reserves. It is shown that the specific circulation conditions in the atmosphere, accompanying extremely strong fires, may hamper transport of atmospheric pollutants to Arctic regions during the fire period. The BC concentrations are, on average, minor in northwestern European Russia (Kola Peninsula) and in the region of Ust-Lena Nature Reserve; and the largest pollution of air in northeastern Europe (region of Nenets Nature Reserve) is due to BC emissions from fires. On the contrary, anthropogenic BC predominates in northwestern Siberia (region of Gydan Nature Reserve). Strong Siberian and Yakutia fires may increase summertime air pollution by black carbon in north Asian Russia by an order of magnitude. The results presented here can be used for the qualitative estimation and comparative analysis of climatic and ecological conditions in different regions of the Russian Arctic.
ISSN:1024-8560
2070-0393
DOI:10.1134/S1024856016060166