Unique smoke emissions from wildland-urban interface fires

Fire at the wildland-urban interface. Credit: FEMA

Two recently published studies work to understand unique smoke emissions from fires at the wildland-urban interface, where urban and natural materials can burn alongside one another. The Climate Program Office’s Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4) program led this initiative in Fiscal Year 2022, funding eleven new projects to explore important questions about wildfires in a rapidly changing and urbanizing world. In an Environmental Science & Technology study, funded scientist Alexander Laskin of Purdue University worked with a team to examine emissions from burning materials like plastics, resins, and wood, identifying brown carbon compounds that change their energy absorption properties under UV light. These dynamics could significantly affect interactions between smoke and sunlight, potentially influencing climate warming.