Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
www.atmos-chem-phys.net
1680-7316
1680-7324
6
12
2006
10.5194/acp-6-5261-2006
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/6/5261/2006/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/6/5261/2006/acp-6-5261-2006.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/6/5261/2006/acp-6-5261-2006.pdf
5261
5277
2006-11-17
Modeling of biomass smoke injection into the lower stratosphere by a large forest fire (Part II): sensitivity studies
G. Luderer
gunnar@mpch-mainz.mpg.de
J. Trentmann
T. Winterrath
C. Textor
M. Herzog
H. F. Graf
M. O. Andreae
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Dept. Biogeochemistry, Mainz, Germany
Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Service d'Aéronomie, CNRS, Paris, France
NOAA GFDL, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Department of Geography, Centre of Atmospheric Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
The Chisholm forest fire that burned in Alberta, Canada, in May 2001 resulted in
injection of substantial amounts of smoke into the lower stratosphere.
We used the cloud-resolving plume model ATHAM (Active Tracer High resolution
Atmospheric Model) to investigate the importance of different contributing factors to the severe
intensification of the convection induced by the Chisholm fire and the subsequent injection of
biomass smoke into the lower stratosphere. The simulations show strong
sensitivity of the pyro-convection to background meteorology. This
explains the observed coincidence of the convective blow-up of the fire plume and the
passage of a synoptic cold front.
<br><br>
Furthermore, we performed model sensitivity studies to the rate of release of
sensible heat and water vapor from the fire. The release of
sensible heat by the fire plays a dominant role for the dynamic development
of the pyro-cumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) and the height to which smoke is
transported. The
convection is very sensitive to the heat flux from the fire. The
emissions of water vapor play a less significant role for the injection height
but enhance the amount of smoke transported beyond the
tropopause level.
<br><br>
The aerosol burden in the plume has a strong impact on the microphysical structure
of the resulting convective cloud. The dynamic evolution of the
pyroCb, however, is only weakly sensitive to the abundance of cloud
condensation nuclei (CCN) from the fire.
In contrast to previous findings by other
studies of convective clouds, we found that fire CCN have a negative effect on the
convection dynamics because they give rise to a delay in the freezing of cloud droplets.
Even in a simulation without fire CCN, there is no precipitation formation within
the updraft region of the pyroCb.
Enhancement of convection by aerosols as reported from studies of
other cases of convection is therefore not found in our study.
Andreae, M. O. and Merlet, P.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 15, 955–966, 2001.
Andreae, M. O., Rosenfeld, D., Artaxo, P., Costa, A. A., Frank, G. P., Longo, K. M., and Silva-Dias, M. A. F.: Smoking rain clouds over the Amazon, Science, 303, 1337–1342, 2004.
ASRD: Final Documentation Report – Chisholm Fire (LWF-063), Forest Protection Division, ISBN 0-7785-1841-8, Tech. rep., Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, 2001.
Bigg, E. K.: The formation of atmospheric ice crystals by the freezing of droplets, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 79, 510–519, 1953.
Byram, G. M.: Combustion of forest fuels, in: Forest Fire Control and Use, edited by: Davis, K. P., McGraw-Hill, New York, 90–123, 1959.
Cook, J. and Highwood, E.: Climate response to tropospheric absorbing aerosol in an intermediate general-circulation model, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 130, 175–191, 2004.
Damoah, R., Spichtinger, N., Servranckx, R., Fromm, M., Eloranta, E. W., Razenkov, I. A., James, P., Shulski, M., Forster, C., and Stohl, A.: A case study of pyro-convection using transport model and remote sensing data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 173–185, 2006.
Emanuel, K. A.: Atmospheric Convection, Oxford Univesity Press, New York, 1994.
Fromm, M., Alfred, J., Hoppel, K., Hornstein, J., Bevilacqua, R., Shettle, E., Servranckx, R., Li, Z., and Stocks, B.: Observations of boreal forest fire smoke in the stratosphere by POAM III, SAGE II, and lidar in 1998, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 1407–1410, 2000.
Fromm, M., Bevilacqua, R., Stocks, B., and Servranckx, R.: New directions: Eruptive transport to the stratosphere: Add fire-convection to volcanoes, Atmos. Environ., 38, 163–165, 2004.
Fromm, M., Bevilacqua, R., Servranckx, R., Rosen, J., Thayler, J., Herman, J., and Larko, D.: Pyro-cumulonimbus injection of smoke into the stratosphere: Observerations and impact of a super blowup in northwestern Canada on 3–4 August 1998, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D08205, doi:10.1029/2004JD005350, 2005.
Fromm, M. D. and Servranckx, R.: Transport of forest fire smoke above the tropopause by supercell convection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1542, doi:10.1029/2002GL016820, 2003.
Graf, H.-F.: The Complex Interactions of Aerosols and Clouds, Science, 303, 1309–1311, 2004.
Graf, H.-F., Herzog, M., Oberhuber, J. M., and Textor, C.: The effect of environmental conditions on volcanic plume rise, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 24 309–24 320, 1999.
Herzog, M., Graf, H.-F., Textor, C., and Oberhuber, J. M.: The effect of phase changes of water on the development of volcanic plumes, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res, 87, 55–74, 1998.
Herzog, M., Oberhuber, J. M., and Graf, H.-F.: A prognostic turbulence scheme for the nonhydrostatic plume model ATHAM, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 2783–2796, 2003.
Hobbs, P. V. and Locatelli, J. D.: Ice Nuclei from a Natural Forest Fire, J.\ Appl. Meteorol., 8, 833–834, 1969.
Houze, R. A.: Cloud Dynamics, Academic Press, San Diego, 1993.
Jost, H.-J., Drdla, K., Stohl, A., Pfister, L., Loewenstein, M., Lopez, J. P., Hudson, P. K., Murphy, D. M., Mahoney, D. J., Cziczo, D. J., Fromm, M., Bui, T. P., Dean-Day, J., Gerbig, C., Mahoney, M. J., Richard, E. C., Spichtinger, N., Pittman, J. V., Weinstock, E. M., Wilson, J. C., and Xueref, I.: In-situ observation of mid-latitude forest fire plumes deep in the stratosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L11101, doi:10.1029/2003GL019253, 2004.
Khain, A., Ovtchinnikov, M., Pinsky, M., Pokrovsky, A., and Krugliak, H.: Notes on the state-of-the-art numerical modeling of cloud microphysics, Atmos. Res., 55, 159–224, 2000.
Koren, I., Kaufman, Y. J., Rosenfeld, D., Remer, L. A., and Rudich, Y.: Aerosol invigoration and restructuring of Atlantic convective clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14828, doi:10.1029/22005GL023187, 2005.
Lavoué, D., Liousse, C., Cachier, H., Stocks, B. J., and Goldammer, J. G.: Modeling of carbonaceous particles emitted by boreal and temperate wildfires at northern latitudes, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 26 871–26 890, 2000.
Lohmann, U. and Feichter, J.: Global indirect aerosol effects: A review, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 715–737, 2005.
McCarter, R. J. and Broido, A.: Radiative and convective energy from wood crib fires, Pyrodynamics, 2, 65–85, 1965.
Mullendore, G. L., Durran, D. R., and Holton, J. R.: Cross-tropopause tracer transport in midlatitude convection, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D06113, doi:10.1029/2004JD005059, 2005.
Oberhuber, J. M., Herzog, M., Graf, H.-F., and Schwanke, K.: Volcanic plume simulation on large scales, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 87, 29–53, 1998.
Packham, D. R.: Heat transfer above a small ground fire, Aust. For. Res., 5, 19–24, 1969.
Penner, J. E., Haselman, Jr., L. C., and Edwards, L. L.: Smoke-Plume Distribution above Large-Scale Fires: Implications for Simulations of "Nuclear Winter", J. Climate and Appl. Meteorol., 25, 1434–1444, 1986.
Potter, B. E.: The role of released moisture in the atmospheric dynamics associated with wildland fires, Int. J. Wildland Fire, 14, 77–84, 2005.
Pruppacher, H. R. and Klett, J. D.: Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.
Reid, J. S., Koppmann, R., Eck, T. F., and Eleuterio, D. P.: A review of biomass burning emissions part II: intensive physical properties of biomass burning particles, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 799–825, 2005.
Robock, A.: Volcanic Eruptions and Climate, Rev. Geophys., 38, 191–219, 2000.
Rosenfeld, D.: Suppression of rain and snow by urban and industrial air pollution, Sci., 287, 1793–1796, 2000.
Rosenfeld, D., Fromm, M., Trentmann, J., Luderer, G., Andreae, M. O., and Servranckx, R.: The Chisholm firestorm: observed microstructure, precipitation and lightning activity of a pyro-Cb, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 6, 9877–9906, 2006.
Rosenfeld, D. and Woodley, W. L.: Deep convective clouds with sustained supercooled liquid water down to −37.5°C, Nature, 405, 440–442, 2000.
Simmel, M. and Wurzler, S.: Condensation and activation in sectional cloud microphysical models, Atmos. Res., 80, 218–236, 2006.
Small, R. D. and Heikes, K. E.: Early cloud formation by large area fires, J. Appl. Meteorol., 27, 654–663, 1988.
Textor, C., Graf, H. F., Herzog, M., Oberhuber, J. M., Rose, W. I., and Ernst, G. G. J.: Volcanic particle aggregation in explosive eruption columns. Part I: Parameterization of the microphysics of hydrometeors and ash, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res, 150, 359–377, 2006a.
Textor, C., Graf, H. F., Herzog, M., Oberhuber, J. M., Rose, W. I., and Ernst, G. G. J.: Volcanic particle aggregation in explosive eruption columns. Part II: Numerical experiments, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 150, 378–394, 2006b.
Trentmann, J., Luderer, G., Winterrath, T., Fromm, M., Servranckx, R., Textor, C., Herzog, M., and Andreae, M. O.: Modeling of biomass smoke injection into the lower stratosphere by a large forest fire (Part I): Reference study, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 5247–5260, 2006.
Waibel, A. E., Fischer, H., Wienhold, F. G., Siegmund, P. C., Lee, B., Stroem, J., Lelieveld, J., and Crutzen, P. J.: Highly elevated carbon monoxide concentrations in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere at northern midlatitudes during the STREAM II summer campaign in 1994, Chemosphere – Global Change Sci., 1, 233–248, 1999.
Wang, C.: A modeling study of the response of tropical deep convection to the increase of cloud condensation nuclei concentration: 1. Dynamics and microphysics, J. Geophys. Res., 110, doi:10.1029/2004JD005720, 2005.
Wang, P. K.: Moisture plumes above thunderstorm anvils and their contributions cross-tropopause transport of water vapor in midlatitudes, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4194, doi:10.1029/2002JD002581, 2003.