Oral Presentation AMOS Annual Meeting and International Conference on Tropical Meteorology and Oceanography

Biomass burning at Gunn Point, Northern Territory: Emission Factors of trace gases and aerosols. (#11)

Maximilien J Desservettaz 1 2 , Clare Paton-Walsh (Murphy) 1 , David Griffith 1 , Graham Kettlewell 1 , Melita Keywood 2 , Jason Ward 2 , Marcel Van der Schoot 2 , Marc Mallet 3 , Andelija Millic 3 , Branka Miljevic 3 , Zoran Ristovski 3 , Dean Howard 4 , Grant Edwards 4 , Brad Atkinson 5
  1. Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  2. Climate Science Centre, CSIRO, Aspendale, VIC, Australia
  3. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  4. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Bureau of Meteorology, Darwin, NT, Australia

Biomass burning emissions impact the atmosphere on local, regional and even global scales. They are the larger source of variability in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. In order to assess biomass burning emissions to the atmosphere, inventories (such as GFED, FINN, etc...) require an input of emission factors (EFs) for trace gases and aerosols, which are representative of local conditions. However, availability of Australian savanna fires EF was sparse for trace gases and completely non-existent for aerosols. Measurements of greenhouse gases, elemental gaseous mercury and submicron aerosols were carried out at Australian Tropical Atmospheric Research Station (ATARS - Gunn Point), Northern Territory as part of the
SAvanna FIres in the Early Dry season campaign (SAFIRED) in June 2014, a period heavily impacted by biomass burning. Greenhouse gases measurements were made using the UOW in-situ FTIR spectrometer; Gaseous elemental mercury measurements were made with a Tekran analyser, and submicron aerosols were measured with an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS). These measurements have allowed calculation of EFs for CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, gaseous elemental mercury and submicron aerosols (size modes and speciated). EFs are reported and compared to EFs from previous studies in Australia and overseas. This study provides updated EFs for trace gases and new EFs for gaseous elemental mercury and aerosols from Australian Savannah fires which will improve the accuracy of biomass burning emission inventories in this region.