Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1969
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1969
13 May 2025
 | 13 May 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).

Investigating fire-induced ozone production from local to global scales

Joseph O. Palmo, Colette L. Heald, Donald R. Blake, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew Coggon, Jeff Collett, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Georgios Gkatzelis, Samuel Hall, Lu Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, I-Ting Ku, Benjamin Nault, Brett Palm, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Amy Sullivan, Joel Thornton, Carsten Warneke, Armin Wisthaler, and Lu Xu

Abstract. Tropospheric ozone (O3) production from wildfires is highly uncertain; previous studies have identified both production and loss of O3 in fire-influenced air masses. To capture the total ozone production attributable to a smoke plume, we bridge the gap between near-field fire chemistry and aged smoke in the remote troposphere. Using airborne measurements from several campaigns, we find that fire-ozone production increases with age, with a regime transition from NOx-saturated to NOx-limited conditions, showing that O3 production in aged plumes is controlled by nitrogen oxides (NOx). Observations in fresh smoke show that suppressed photochemistry reduces O3 production by ~70% in units of ppb Ox per ppm CO. Anthropogenic NOx injection into VOC-rich fire plumes drives additional O3 production, exceeding 50 ppb above background in extreme cases. Using a box model, we explore the sensitivity of O3 production to fire emissions and chemical parameters, demonstrating the importance of aerosol-induced photochemical suppression over heterogeneous HO₂ uptake, validating HONO's role as an oxidant precursor, and confirming evolving NOx sensitivity. We evaluate GEOS-Chem's performance against these observations, finding that the model captures fire-induced O3 enhancements at older ages but overestimates near-field enhancements, fails to capture fire emission magnitude and variability, and misses the chemical regime transition. These discrepancies bias normalized ozone production (∆O3/∆CO) across plume lifetime. GEOS-Chem attributes 2.4% of the global tropospheric ozone burden and 3.1% of surface ozone concentrations to fire emissions in 2020, with stronger impacts in regions of frequent burning.

Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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Joseph O. Palmo, Colette L. Heald, Donald R. Blake, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew Coggon, Jeff Collett, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Georgios Gkatzelis, Samuel Hall, Lu Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, I-Ting Ku, Benjamin Nault, Brett Palm, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Amy Sullivan, Joel Thornton, Carsten Warneke, Armin Wisthaler, and Lu Xu

Status: open (until 26 Jun 2025)

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-1969', D.A.J. Jaffe, 14 Jun 2025 reply
Joseph O. Palmo, Colette L. Heald, Donald R. Blake, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew Coggon, Jeff Collett, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Georgios Gkatzelis, Samuel Hall, Lu Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, I-Ting Ku, Benjamin Nault, Brett Palm, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Amy Sullivan, Joel Thornton, Carsten Warneke, Armin Wisthaler, and Lu Xu

Data sets

Data used to generate figures Joseph O. Palmo https://github.com/joepalmo/O3Fire_paper

Model code and software

Box model code Joseph O. Palmo https://github.com/joepalmo/O3Fire_paper

Interactive computing environment

Code to generate figures Joseph O. Palmo https://github.com/joepalmo/O3Fire_paper

Joseph O. Palmo, Colette L. Heald, Donald R. Blake, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew Coggon, Jeff Collett, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Georgios Gkatzelis, Samuel Hall, Lu Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, I-Ting Ku, Benjamin Nault, Brett Palm, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Amy Sullivan, Joel Thornton, Carsten Warneke, Armin Wisthaler, and Lu Xu

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Short summary
This study investigates ozone production within wildfire smoke plumes as they age, using both aircraft observations and models. We find that the chemical environment and resulting ozone production within smoke changes as plumes evolve, with implications for climate and public health.
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