RAPID: Emissions and Fate of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Emitted from Australian Wildfires during the COALA-JOEYS Campaign

该RAPID项目利用了一名美国研究人员正在澳大利亚开展的一项研究活动的优势，该活动旨在研究澳大利亚新南威尔士州原始和污染条件下大气化合物的植物排放，使研究人员能够将这些努力扩展到研究该地区目前发生的大规模野火的排放。该项目的数据将与美国的野火研究进行比较评估，并有助于更好地了解野火排放物的化学成分如何根据燃烧的材料而变化。研究结果与公众息息相关，因为大量人口目前正暴露在含有未知化学成分的澳大利亚丛林大火烟雾中。澳大利亚的COALA-JOEY（表征澳大利亚的有机和气溶胶负荷-联合有机排放全年研究）活动将扩展到关注澳大利亚正在进行的野火的排放。将使用质子转移反应飞行时间质谱仪从火灾产生的烟雾中获得样品，以鉴定挥发性有机化合物（VOCs），包括中间氧化产物和半挥发性VOCs。这一数据有望帮助解决火羽中氧化挥发性有机化合物形成的一些重大不确定性。特别是，与火灾有关的甲酸（HCOOH）的排放在澳大利亚的火灾中尤其不确定。大气HCOOH对降水的酸度和化学性质有贡献，其来源在全球模式中通常没有得到很好的捕获。限制HCOOH的一次排放和研究二次形成机制将为全球HCOOH预算以及生物质燃烧排放的最终命运提供有价值的约束。该项目将促进对澳大利亚野火挥发性有机化合物排放、其可变性和依赖性以及随后的挥发性有机化合物氧化的了解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This RAPID project takes advantage of the ongoing participation of a US investigator in an Australian campaign to study the vegetative emissions of atmospheric compounds in pristine and in polluted conditions in New South Wales Australia, enabling the investigator to extend these efforts to study the emissions from the massive wildfires now occurring in that region. The data from this project will be evaluated in comparison to wildfire studies in the US, and help to develop a better understanding of how the chemical composition of wildfire emissions vary depending on the material burned. The results have immediate relevance to the general public, as large populations are currently being exposed to Australian bushfire smoke with unknown chemical composition.The COALA-JOEY’s (Characterizing Organics and Aerosol Loading over Australia - Joint Organic Emissions Year-round Study) campaign in Australia will be extended to focus on emissions from ongoing Australian wildfires. Samples will be obtained in the plumes of smoke from the fires using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including intermediate oxidation products and semivolatile VOCs. This data is expected to help resolve some of the large uncertainties in the formation of oxidized VOCs in fire plumes. In particular, the emissions of fire-related formic acid (HCOOH) are especially uncertain in Australian fires. Atmospheric HCOOH contributes to precipitation acidity and chemistry, and its sources are generally not well captured in global models. Constraining primary emissions of HCOOH and investigating secondary formation mechanisms will provide a valuable constraint on global HCOOH budgets as well as on the ultimate fate of biomass burning emissions. This project will advance the knowledge of VOC emissions from Australian wildfires, their variability and dependencies, and subsequent VOC oxidation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.