University of Wyoming story
WYOMING – Hazy, smoke-filled skies have become somewhat of the norm throughout the Rocky Mountain West in recent summers.
Chalk it up to climate change, consequences of reduced logging, and decades-old history of less-than-enlightened wildland fire management, but the fact is by mid-late summer much of the area is ablaze with largescale wildfires.
As a result, smoke from wildfires has blanketed many states in the West, and Wyoming is no exception. But exactly how that smoke affects air quality, climate and weather is the subject of a comprehensive study this summer that includes University of Wyoming Assistant Professor Shane Murphy’s research group.
Murphy, who is a part of the Department of Atmospheric Science in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, is a co-principal investigator for the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen, or WE-CAN. The study aims to better understand the chemistry of wildfire smoke. It takes place from July 22-Aug. 31 and is based in Boise, Idaho.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR-EOL).
“This project grew out of a discussion we had during a tour of the UW flight facility that we gave Dr. Emily Fischer from CSU when she was here visiting for a seminar,” Murphy says. “It’s really amazing how much it expanded into a comprehensive study, from which we’ll learn a ton.”
Understanding the chemistry in Western wildfire smoke has major ramifications for air quality, nutrient cycles, weather and climate. The main objectives of WE-CAN are to identify and quantify emissions from wildfires in Western states and understand how smoke plumes evolve over the first 24 hours of a blaze. Murphy’s group will be focused on measuring how smoke particles interact with light, which can affect local weather and global climate.
Research has indicated exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with adverse health effects for the general public. In this project, researchers will document the emissions and evolution of air pollutants in smoke plumes.
