ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-10-11921-2010 Ground-based remote sensing of an elevated forest fire aerosol layer at Whistler, BC: implications for interpretation of mountaintop chemistry McKendry I. G. 1 Gallagher J. 1 Campuzano Jost P. 2 Bertram A. 2 Strawbridge K. 3 Leaitch R. 4 Macdonald A. M. 4 Department of Geography, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments, Environment Canada, Egbert, Canada Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, Toronto, Canada 14 12 2010 10 23 11921 11930 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/11921/2010/acp-10-11921-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/11921/2010/acp-10-11921-2010.pdf

On 30 August 2009, intense forest fires in interior British Columbia (BC) coupled with winds from the east and northeast resulted in transport of a broad forest fire plume across southwestern BC. The physico-chemical and optical characteristics of the plume as observed from Saturna Island (AERONET), CORALNet-UBC and the Whistler Mountain air chemistry facility were consistent with forest fire plumes that have been observed elsewhere in continental North America. However, the importance of three-dimensional transport in relation to the interpretation of mountaintop chemistry observations is highlighted on the basis of deployment of both a <i>CL31</i> ceilometer and a single particle mass spectrometer (SPMS) in a mountainous setting. The SPMS is used to identify the biomass plume based on levoglucosan and potassium markers. Data from the SPMS are also used to show that the biomass plume was correlated with nitrate, but not correlated with sulphate or sodium. This study not only provides baseline measurements of biomass burning plume physico-chemical characteristics in western Canada, but also highlights the importance of lidar remote sensing methods in the interpretation of mountaintop chemistry measurements.

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