An Observational and HYSPLIT Modeling Study on the Impacts of Recent Canadian Wildfire Smoke on Air Quality across the United States

During the first week of June 2023, the northeast U.S. experienced a historical smoke event that blanketed most of the region due to fires originating in Quebec, Canada. At this time, northeast U.S. residents were exposed to a significant increase in PM2.5 and ozone concentrations. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was executed to simulate the transport of smoke emissions and quantify the long-range smoke dispersion through back trajectory from Howard University’s Beltsville campus. For this particular study, the research requires a thorough analysis of several trajectories, from campus, on the Canadian wildfire smoke between the dates of June 5th, 2023, to June 9th, 2023. Canadian wildfires have recently become a recurring environmental hazard in Canada that has significant impacts on the United States. Wildfires have become a more persistent problem we see globally, and being exacerbated by climate change, results in prolonged fire seasons that only intensify as time goes on. The Canadian wildfires have yielded vast amounts of smoke that has blanketed much of the United States, negatively affecting the air quality. In addition to reduced air quality, observations include visibility impairment (yellow skies in New York City) and health risks that temporarily put a halt to everyday human activities (i.e. Yankees game cancellation). The fine particulate matter (PM2.5) present in the smoke can penetrate deep into the respiratory system leading to illnesses such as asthma. Wildfire smoke can also contain harmful pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that produce ozone (O3) through a photochemical reaction. Observational data shows a significant increase in PM2.5 and O3 concentrations during this historical event. The findings from this study yield a need for adequate wildfire management and control everywhere, as it cannot always be accurately estimated how and exactly where wildfire smoke will be transported.