Meteorological Technology International
  • News
    • A-E
      • Agriculture
      • Automated Weather Stations
      • Aviation
      • Climate Measurement
      • Data
      • Developing Countries
      • Digital Applications
      • Early Warning Systems
      • Extreme Weather
    • G-P
      • Hydrology
      • Lidar
      • Lightning Detection
      • New Appointments
      • Nowcasting
      • Numerical Weather Prediction
      • Polar Weather
    • R-S
      • Radar
      • Rainfall
      • Remote Sensing
      • Renewable Energy
      • Satellites
      • Solar
      • Space Weather
      • Supercomputers
    • T-Z
      • Training
      • Transport
      • Weather Instruments
      • Wind
      • World Meteorological Organization
      • Meteorological Technology World Expo
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    • April 2025
    • January 2025
    • September 2024
    • April 2024
    • Archive Issues
    • Subscribe Free!
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Expo
LinkedIn Twitter Facebook
  • Sign-up for Free Weekly E-Newsletter
  • Meet the Editors
  • Contact Us
  • Media Pack
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
Meteorological Technology International
  • News
      • Agriculture
      • Automated Weather Stations
      • Aviation
      • Climate Measurement
      • Data
      • Developing Countries
      • Digital Applications
      • Early Warning Systems
      • Extreme Weather
      • Hydrology
      • Lidar
      • Lightning Detection
      • New Appointments
      • Nowcasting
      • Numerical Weather Prediction
      • Polar Weather
      • Radar
      • Rainfall
      • Remote Sensing
      • Renewable Energy
      • Satellites
      • Solar
      • Space Weather
      • Supercomputers
      • Training
      • Transport
      • Weather Instruments
      • Wind
      • World Meteorological Organization
      • Meteorological Technology World Expo
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    1. April 2025
    2. January 2025
    3. September 2024
    4. April 2024
    5. January 2024
    6. September 2023
    7. April 2023
    8. Archive Issues
    9. Subscribe Free!
    Featured
    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – April 2025

    By Web TeamApril 15, 2025
    Recent

    In this Issue – April 2025

    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – January 2025

    December 13, 2024

    In this Issue – September 2024

    August 8, 2024
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Expo
Facebook LinkedIn
Subscribe
Meteorological Technology International
Climate Measurement

NOAA study unveils impact of wildfire smoke on the stratosphere

Dan SymondsBy Dan SymondsFebruary 28, 20234 Mins Read
Share LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Email
The Williams Flat fire in British Columbia generated a fire cloud, or pyroCb that injected smoke into the stratosphere on August 8, 2019. Photo credit: David Peterson, US Navy
Share
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Email

A team of atmospheric scientists led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has demonstrated how large vertical plumes of wildfire smoke have a major long-term impact on the stratosphere and climate.

Pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) are generated when the intense heat of a wildfire triggers a huge thunderstorm that carries smoke into the stratosphere, 8-11km above the surface. In 2017, the flight path of NASA’s Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) intersected with smoke from the largest pyroCb event observed in the satellite era to that date over the Pacific Northwest. The smoke injection was so large that remote sensing instruments around the globe monitored it for more than eight months. Measurements showed that it and several additional northern hemisphere pyroCb events that year dominated contributions of black carbon and organic carbon to the lower stratosphere, the net effect of which cooled the planet.

Joshua Schwarz, a research physicist in NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory and study co-author, said, “These fire clouds are growing larger and more frequent – witness record-breaking events in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Their recent impacts on the stratosphere have been impressive. Now we’ve learned how to track those impacts over longer time periods than we previously recognized were significant. This means we’ll now be able to track changes in their impacts as the climate evolves.”

Scientists are interested in learning more about pyroCbs because their smoke lingers in the atmosphere longer than that from typical fires, affecting climate on a different scale. Schwarz added that the findings also provide insights into the behavior of aerosols from volcanoes, aviation or potential future solar geoengineering efforts.

Measurements of these clouds have been extremely limited to date due to their episodic nature and the logistical challenges of getting scientific instruments airborne and into the smoke on short notice. As a result, the distribution and duration of smoke from these events are poorly known, as is the impact on climate and stratospheric aerosol chemistry, including the ozone layer.

One surprising finding was the discovery of an extremely thick coating on black carbon particles generated by wildfires. “We spent weeks analyzing individual particle data to verify that this was a real signal, and not generated by some fault in the data processing,” said former CIRES scientist and lead author Joe Katich, who now works for Ball Aerospace.

Left: Relevant portions of the October 2017 research flight path in the troposphere (red) and stratosphere in this paper (yellow) with British Columbia indicated by a flame symbol. Right: This chart shows different-sized aerosol particles in the northern hemisphere lower stratosphere between August 2016 and May 2018. Aerosol sources from biomass burning (green) are significantly enhanced in October 2017. Photo credit: NOAA

A second NOAA-NASA airborne mission, FIREX-AQ, provided direct sampling of hours-old pyroCb smoke from the Williams Flats fire in 2019. Analysis of black carbon from that fire gave them more confidence in their conclusions drawn from the 2017 smoke.

The thick coating of black carbon, along with its size and mass, was a remarkably stable feature of pyroCb smoke that researchers realized could be used to ‘fingerprint’ these particles in the lower stratosphere. Using these fingerprints, they re-examined data from 12 airborne mission data sets going back to 2006 in both hemispheres to estimate long-term pyroCb influences on the lower stratosphere in our recent climate.

The researchers found that even in those years with relatively few of these pyroCbs before more active fire seasons starting in 2020, the impact of smoke was significant, contributing roughly 20% of all stratospheric black carbon and organic carbon in the lower stratosphere in the previous decade.

“This gave us a reasonable estimate representing the period before things really started lighting up,” Schwarz said. “We now recognize pyroCb’s longer-term influence on the stratosphere. It’s not just an important blip but a steady-state influence that needs to be accounted for.”

Katich added, “This is a major win for understanding the stratosphere, which people have a rapidly growing interest in. PyroCb contributes more to the stratospheric makeup than we thought, acts in different ways than we thought and sticks around longer than we thought. This finding is important on its own but will also help us understand the long-term implications of solar geoengineering with aerosols.”

To view the full results published in the journal Science, click here.

Previous ArticleAstrocast and SensAlpin to develop IoT satellite comms for glacier and permafrost monitoring stations
Next Article Weather 20/20 partnership to boost Baron’s ultra-long-term prediction capabilities

Read Similar Stories

Oceans

NOC deploys robots to investigate ocean’s biological carbon pump

May 28, 20254 Mins Read
New Appointments

UK National Climate Science Partnership appoints joint director

May 27, 20253 Mins Read
Oceans

VIDEO: NOC satellite data tracks tidal change in Liverpool

May 27, 20253 Mins Read
Latest News

NOC deploys robots to investigate ocean’s biological carbon pump

May 28, 2025

Coronal adaptive optics reveal most detailed coronal images to date

May 28, 2025

UK National Climate Science Partnership appoints joint director

May 27, 2025

Receive breaking stories and features in your inbox each week, for free


Enter your email address:


Supplier Spotlights
  • Palindrome Remote Sensing GmbH
Latest Job Postings
  • Postdoctoral researcher position on land surface and vegetation modelling (R2)

    • Barcelona
    • Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación
    • Full Time
  • HPC Engineer for Earth Sciences applications (RE1/2)

    • Barcelona
    • Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación
    • Full Time
Getting in Touch
  • Contact Us / Advertise
  • Meet the Editors
  • Download Media Pack
  • Free Weekly E-Newsletter
Our Social Channels
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
© 2025 UKi Media & Events a division of UKIP Media & Events Ltd
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Notice and Takedown Policy

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the ...
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by