Investigating the atmospheric response to the extreme Australian 2019/2020 wildfire season
Buchholz, R., Leung, D. M., Worden, H. M., Thornton, J., Fredrickson, C., et al. (2026). Investigating the atmospheric response to the extreme Australian 2019/2020 wildfire season.
| Title | Investigating the atmospheric response to the extreme Australian 2019/2020 wildfire season |
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| Genre | Conference Material |
| Author(s) | Rebecca Buchholz, Danny M. Leung, Helen M. Worden, J. Thornton, C. Fredrickson, D. Hammerling, W. Daniels, R. Peterson, C. Paton-Walsh, S. Lee, N. Maneenoi |
| Abstract | The extreme 2019/2020 Australian wildfire season released large amounts of smoke into the atmosphere, which had impacts both regionally within the southeast of the continent, as well as at transported distances at hemispheric scales. We use a combination of chemistry-climate modeling, remote sensing, ground-based measurements and climate-chemistry relationships to investigate the wildfire emission impacts from this season. We developed an Australian regional refined (~14 km regional; ~100 km elsewhere spatial resolution) version of the Multi-Scale Infrastructure for Chemistry and Aerosols (MUSICA), within the NSF NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM). Comparison of the regional refined results with global simulations at 1 degree evaluate the representation of model processes at finer spatial scales. Ground-based observations of chemical species such as ozone, carbon monoxide (CO) and formaldehyde as well as aerosols are used to evaluate model accuracy. We also compare against satellite measurements such as the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) observations of carbon monoxide, a good tracer for wildfire smoke, as well as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD), to evaluate model performance. Finally, we investigate the relationship between climate variability and atmospheric composition variability to understand climate-chemistry relationships in this season, relative to the longer time period. |
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| Publication Date | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Publisher's Version of Record | |
| OpenSky Citable URL | https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7pc36xv |
| OpenSky Listing | View on OpenSky |
| ACOM Affiliations | ACRESP, MODELING |