The 2018 BB-FLUX campaign deployed the CU solar tracker and the CU SOF on the University of Wyoming King Air research aircraft, building on the experience from Pre-BB-FLUX. The campaign was based in the western United States from July to September 2018 and performed 37 research flights aimed at the following objectives:
- 1. Quantify emission fluxes of CO, CO2, other gases, and particle volume for different fuel types and burn conditions, and test atmospheric models.
- 2. Characterize plume injection height of plumes that travel decoupled from the ground (top of boundary layer, free troposphere), and evaluate predictions by atmospheric models.
- 3. Study radical sources and plume chemistry that leads to secondary production of O3, air toxics, and modifies the particle size distribution as plumes age.
- 4. Explore synergistic benefits of remote sensing and in-situ observations to quantify speciated total emission fluxes from wildfires.
Additionally, measurements of fuel type and loading were made following the campaign by researchers from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
In the news:
- Researchers fly into wildfire smoke (Idaho Press, 11 August 2018)
- UW Scientist, Aircraft Join Wildfire Smoke Research (U. Wyoming, 20 July 2018)
- "It's a threat to the air we breathe," Researchers study wildfires impact on air quality (KIVI TV, 11 August 2018)
- Answering Burning Questions About Wildfire Fuel and Emissions (NEON blog, 15 May 2019)
Publications
- Global nitrous acid emissions and levels of regional oxidants enhanced by wildfires
- The CU Airborne Solar Occultation Flux Instrument: Performance Evaluation during BB-FLUX
- Wildfire Smoke Observations in the Western U.S. from the Airborne Wyoming Cloud Lidar during the BB-FLUX Project. Part I: Data Description and Methodology
- A Comparison of Multitemporal Airborne Laser Scanning Data and the Fuel Characteristics Classification System for Estimating Fuel Load and Consumption
- Carbon Monoxide in Optically Thick Wildfire Smoke: Evaluating TROPOMI Using CU Airborne SOF Column Observations
Data access:
CU researchers working on the King Air, the in situ instruments on the King Air, and all flight tracks (blue) and fires (red). Fires also studied by NEON are denoted by the boxes.
NSF C-130 from the King Air during a coordinated research flight on 28 August 2018, smoke from the Pole Creek/Bald Mountain fires in Utah, and smoke from the Rabbit Foot fire in Idaho.
BB-FLUX Research Flight 13 from Boise, ID to the Rabbit Foot fire in eastern Idaho on 15 August 2018.
BB-FLUX was funded by NSF-AGS-1754019, Biomass Burning Flux Measurements of Trace Gases and Aerosols (BB-FLUX) Using Solar Occultation Flux (SOF) on the Wyoming King Air. The NEON deployment was funded via NSF-AGS-1842139 RAPID Grant, Airborne LiDAR and Hyperspectral Observations to Support Ecological Characterization of Wildfire Affected Areas in Partnership with BB-FLUX.