Prescribed burning and wild fires are among the most significant sources of fine particulate matter globally and can degrade air quality over large areas. However, large variability in the fire emissions complicates the assessment of their climatic impact. This project investigates how the emissions that are most important for climate and air quality depend on the vegetation that was burned and the fire intensity as well as how their evolution in the atmosphere. On global scale approximately half of the biomass burning emissions originate in savannah and grassland fires. In this project observations of savannah and grassland fire plumes in southern Africa are connected to satellite observations and laboratory experiments in order to develop the capabilities of air quality and climate models to treat fire emissions more accurately.

2021

2026