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Wildland Fire Emission Sampling at Fishlake National Forest, Utah Using an Unmanned Aircraft System
J Aurell1, B Gullett2, A Holder2
1University of Dayton Research Institute, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469, USA.
Atmospheric Environment (Oxford, England : 1994)
|August 2, 2021
Summary
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sampled emissions from a large prescribed burn in Utah. UAS provided crucial data on pollutants like PM2.5, revealing lower emissions from slash piles than crown fires due to combustion efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Atmospheric Chemistry
- Forestry Management
Background:
- Prescribed burns are essential for forest management but generate significant emissions.
- Understanding these emissions is critical for air quality and climate change modeling.
- Previous emission studies often lack comprehensive data from large-scale, wildfire-like conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify emission factors for a wide range of pollutants from a large-scale prescribed burn.
- To compare emission factors from different burning conditions (slash pile vs. crown fire).
- To demonstrate the utility of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for fire emission sampling.
Main Methods:
- Emissions were sampled using a UAS during a 1,000+ ha prescribed burn in Fishlake National Forest, Utah.
- Sixteen flights collected data on carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2), particulate matter (PM2.5), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- Sampling captured fresh smoke constituents, minimizing risks associated with traditional ground-based methods.
Main Results:
- Emission factors for particulate matter (PM2.5) showed a five-fold variation.
- Most pollutants, including PM2.5, exhibited inverse relationships with combustion efficiency.
- Slash pile burns resulted in lower emission factors compared to crown fires.
Conclusions:
- UAS technology offers a safe and flexible platform for sampling fresh smoke emissions from large fires.
- Combustion efficiency significantly influences emission factors, with less efficient crown fires releasing more pollutants.
- Findings provide valuable data for refining air quality models and forest management strategies.
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