Impact of Landes forest fires on air quality in France during the 2022 summer

Abstract

The atypical huge forest fires observed in France during the summer of 2022 are modeled using the CHIMERE model. The impact of these emissions is quantified on ozone, aerosols and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The fires also influence the surface by destroying the vegetation and creating new erodible surfaces. This increases the mineral dust emissions but also reduces the leaf area index (LAI), and then it decreases the biogenic emissions and the dry deposition of gases such as ozone. Results show that the fires induce numerous increases in surface ozone and particulate matter (PM) concentrations close to the sources but also in downwind remote sites such as the Paris area. During the period of the most intense fires in July, the impact of concentrations is mainly due to emissions themselves, and later, in August, ozone and PM concentrations continue to increase but this time due to changes in the burned surfaces.