Assessing the Impact of 2018 Wildfires on Seasonal Variations in Air Quality and Pollutant Levels in the State of California.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in 2018 there had been an estimated 1,618,033 acres burned with about 310 wildfire incidents with greater than 10 acres in burn area. In addition, 93 fatalities were recorded with 23,145 structures damaged in the process. Wildfires are a large source of particulate pollution in western states (Liu et al., 2017), but with raging debate on the effects of climate change and global warming, the short- and long-term effects of the annual fires on the citizens is worth investigating. This research aimed to determine the most polluted and unsafe counties in California in the wake of wildfires in 2018 based on inhabitants below the age of 15 and above 55, who are generally more vulnerable to respiratory illness as a result of bad air quality or pollution. It discovered most of the counties with higher level of this “sensitive” population are in the northern parts of the state where pollution levels were high in the Summer and Fall seasons compared to the Winter and Spring.

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Journal

Title: ScienceOpen Posters

Publisher: ScienceOpen

Publication date (Electronic preprint): 27 November 2022

Affiliations

[1 ] University of Maryland, College Park

Author notes

[* ]Email: alawal@ 123456terpmail.umd.edu .

Author information

Afolarin Lawal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0183-5435

Article

DOI: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPMOFYX.v1

SO-VID: d04be903-832b-4046-afc3-152b3226e9d8

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This work has been published open access under Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conditions, terms of use and publishing policy can be found at www.scienceopen.com .

History

Date received : 27 November 2022

References

Liu Xiaoxi, Huey L. Gregory, Yokelson Robert J., Selimovic Vanessa, Simpson Isobel J., Müller Markus, Jimenez Jose L., Campuzano‐Jost Pedro, Beyersdorf Andreas J., Blake Donald R., Butterfield Zachary, Choi Yonghoon, Crounse John D., Day Douglas A., Diskin Glenn S., Dubey Manvendra K., Fortner Edward, Hanisco Thomas F., Hu Weiwei, King Laura E., Kleinman Lawrence, Meinardi Simone, Mikoviny Tomas, Onasch Timothy B., Palm Brett B., Peischl Jeff, Pollack Ilana B., Ryerson Thomas B., Sachse Glen W., Sedlacek Arthur J., Shilling John E., Springston Stephen, St. Clair Jason M., Tanner David J., Teng Alexander P., Wennberg Paul O., Wisthaler Armin, Wolfe Glenn M.. Airborne measurements of western U.S. wildfire emissions: Comparison with prescribed burning and air quality implications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Vol. 122(11):6108–6129. 2017. American Geophysical Union (AGU). [Cross Ref]
Mallia D. V., Lin J. C., Urbanski S., Ehleringer J., Nehrkorn T.. Impacts of upwind wildfire emissions on CO, CO2, and PM2.5 concentrations in Salt Lake City, Utah. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Vol. 120(1):147–166. 2015. American Geophysical Union (AGU). [Cross Ref]

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[1] Liu Xiaoxi, Huey L. Gregory, Yokelson Robert J., Selimovic Vanessa, Simpson Isobel J., Müller Markus, Jimenez Jose L., Campuzano‐Jost Pedro, Beyersdorf Andreas J., Blake Donald R., Butterfield Zachary, Choi Yonghoon, Crounse John D., Day Douglas A., Diskin Glenn S., Dubey Manvendra K., Fortner Edward, Hanisco Thomas F., Hu Weiwei, King Laura E., Kleinman Lawrence, Meinardi Simone, Mikoviny Tomas, Onasch Timothy B., Palm Brett B., Peischl Jeff, Pollack Ilana B., Ryerson Thomas B., Sachse Glen W., Sedlacek Arthur J., Shilling John E., Springston Stephen, St. Clair Jason M., Tanner David J., Teng Alexander P., Wennberg Paul O., Wisthaler Armin, Wolfe Glenn M.. Airborne measurements of western U.S. wildfire emissions: Comparison with prescribed burning and air quality implications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Vol. 122(11):6108–6129. 2017. American Geophysical Union (AGU). [Cross Ref]

[2] Mallia D. V., Lin J. C., Urbanski S., Ehleringer J., Nehrkorn T.. Impacts of upwind wildfire emissions on CO, CO<sub>2,</sub> and PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations in Salt Lake City, Utah. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Vol. 120(1):147–166. 2015. American Geophysical Union (AGU). [Cross Ref]