Estimated total emissions of trace gases from the Canberra Wildfires of 2003: a new method using satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth & the MOZART chemical transport model

In this paper we describe a new method for estimating trace gas emissions from large vegetation fires using satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm, combined with an atmospheric chemical transport model. The method uses a threshold value to screen out normal levels of AOD that may be caused by raised dust, sea salt aerosols or diffuse smoke transported from distant fires. Using this method we infer an estimated total emission of 15 +/- 5 Tg of carbon monoxide, 0.05 +/- 0.02 Tg of hydrogen cyanide, 0.11 +/- 0.03 Tg of ammonia, 0.25 +/- 0.07 Tg of formaldehyde, 0.03 +/- 0.01 of acetylene, 0.10 +/- 0.03 Tg of ethylene, 0.03 +/- 0.01 Tg of ethane, 0.21 +/- 0.06 Tg of formic acid and 0.28 +/- 0.09 Tg of methanol released to the atmosphere from the Canberra fires of 2003. An assessment of the uncertainties in the new method is made and we show that our estimate agrees (within expected uncertainties) with estimates made using current conventional methods of multiplying together factors for the area burned, fuel load, the combustion efficiency and the emission factor for carbon monoxide. A simpler estimate derived directly from the satellite AOD measurements is also shown to be in agreement with conventional estimates, suggesting that the method may, under certain meteorological conditions, be applied without the complication of using a chemical transport model. The new method is suitable for estimating emissions from distinct large fire episodes and although it has some significant uncertainties, these are largely independent of the uncertainties inherent in conventional techniques. Thus we conclude that the new method is a useful additional tool for characterising emissions from vegetation fires.