Modelling emissions from Canadian wildfires: a case study of the 2002 Quebec fires

The present paper proposes an original approach to estimate gaseous and particulate emissions from boreal forest fires based on the Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction ( FBP) System. The FBP System permits calculation of fuel consumption and rate of spread for individual fires on an hourly basis from meteorological conditions and fuel patterns. Weather data are obtained by running the Canadian weather forecast model GEM ( Global Environmental Multiscale). Hourly emission point sources can then be generated from a given wildfire database. The smoke emission model was first applied to the boreal forest fires in Quebec in the summer of 2002. Geographical distribution and temporal variability of emission amounts, as well as injection heights, were assessed hourly. In July, similar to 150 wildfires released 39 Mt of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gases and 470 kt of fine particulate matter to the atmosphere. They contributed 32 and 5% of Quebec's and Canada's annual greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. Black carbon was estimated to account for 4% of the total fine particulate matter. Wildfires were responsible for 51 and 90% of all Canada's black carbon and particulate organic matter sources, respectively.