Continental transport and deposition of metals from wildfires

Project Lead: Alex Honeyman and Mark Leone

We seek to explain the presence of trace metals in wildfire smoke and decipher their processes of fate, transport, and deposition. Through data science strategies at the continental scale we are resolving major controlling axes of wildfire smoke inorganic chemistry: what burns, how it burns, and where smoke travels. Furthermore, we consider the impacts of smoke deposition on surface-level air quality which has direct effects on human health. In tandem with our data science approach, we are developing and deploying novel airborne and ground-based smoke particulate matter sampling platforms to advance planetary intelligence for wildfire smoke chemistry monitoring.