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- Title
Chemical Composition of PM2.5 in October 2017 Northern California Wildfire Plumes.
- Authors
Liang, Yutong; Jen, Coty N.; Weber, Robert J.; Misztal, Pawel K.; Goldstein, Allen H.
- Abstract
Wildfires have become more common and intense in the western US over recent decades due to a combination of historical land management and warming climate. Emissions from large scale fires now frequently affect populated regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area during the fall wildfire season, with documented impacts of the resulting particulate matter on human health. Health impacts of exposure to wildfire emissions depend on the chemical composition of particulate matter, but the molecular composition of the real biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) that reaches large population centers remains insufficiently characterized. We took PM2.5 (particles having aerodynamic diameters less than or equal to 2.5 µm) samples at the University of California, Berkeley campus (~60 km downwind of the fires) during the October 2017 Northern California wildfires period, and analyzed molecular composition of OA using a two-dimensional gas20 chromatography coupled with high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC×GC ToFMS). Sugar-like compounds were the most abundant component of BBOA, followed by mono-carboxylic acids, aromatic compounds, other oxygenated compounds and terpenoids. The vast majority of compounds detected in smoke have unknown health impacts.
- Subjects
CALIFORNIA; UNIVERSITY of California, Berkeley; TIME-of-flight mass spectrometers; WILDFIRES; PARTICULATE matter; BIOMASS burning; FIRE; EMISSION exposure
- Publication
Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics Discussions, 2020, p1
- ISSN
1680-7367
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/acp-2020-910