Project Number: 22-010

Research

Title: Dallas Field Study (DFS); Ozone Precursors, Local Sources and Remote Transport Including Biomass Burning

Institution(s) Represented: Aerodyne Research, Inc. (PI: Edward Fortner)

Lead PI: Edward Fortner

AQRP Project Manager: Vincent Torres

TCEQ Project Liaison: David Westenbarger

Awarded Amount: $228,418.00

Abstract

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (DFW) Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is the most populated MSA in the state of Texas and the fourth largest MSA in the United States. It is also experiencing a high rate of growth and is located along the Interstate 35 (I-35) corridor which in general is an area of rapid growth. The most recent population estimate from www.census.gov [census.gov] of the DFW MSA is 7,759,615 people with a one-year growth of 97,290 people, which equates to a growth rate of 1.02% from June 2020 to June 2021. Despite the very large size and growing population the MSA has been under sampled with respect to air quality measurements relative to other MSA's within the state of Texas and across the country as a whole. The DFW MSA is a good candidate for study under the Texas Air Quality Research Program (AQRP) indicated desire to focus on rapidly growing areas along the Interstate 35 corridor.
The AQRP has also indicated an interest in obtaining information relating to the impact of domestic wildfires and fires at the wildland-urban interface on particulate matter, particulate matter precursors, ozone, and ozone precursors. It is difficult to plan a campaign around this because of the variability of wildfires, however there are certain seasons and locations which provide the greatest possibility of successfully measuring these events should they occur. With this in mind, we propose to conduct our measurements of the DFW MSA during the Spring (March-April) of 2023 which will overlap with the agricultural crop burning season in the Yucatan (March-May) [Yokelson et al. 2009]. Yucatan crop burning has been studied to some extent in the past [Peppler et al. 1999;
van der Werf et al. 2006; Dominguez-Martinez and Rodriguez, 2008; Yokelson et al. 2009,
2011] however the Aerodyne Mobile Lab (AML) measurement platform will provide more complete characterization than previous studies while focusing on the DFW MSA interaction with the plume. If biomass burning influenced airmasses from the Western United States appear in the DFW MSA during the intensive, we will be equipped to measure their composition and evolution within the DFW MSA. Finally, due to the flexibility the AML offers, if wildfires become prevalent anywhere in Texas during the March-April 2023 campaign intensive we will have the ability to drive towards the fire-impacted area and conduct transect measurements downwind to investigate the fire plume evolution as it ages and, if applicable, enters any metropolitan area in Texas.
In summary, Aerodyne proposes to deploy our mobile laboratory for 3 weeks during the Spring of 2023 (March-April). Our primary emphasis will be on conducting ozone precursor source measurements and ambient measurements of inflow, evolution within the metro area and egress downwind of the metro area. Our secondary mission not to exceed a maximum of 35% of total campaign time will be mobile measurements of wildfires in Texas as conditions warrant.

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Research

Research

FY 2022 - 2023

Project Number: 22-010