Gili Jordina, Maín Aina, van Drooge Barend L, Viana Mar
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research - Spanish Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain; PhD program of Analytical Chemistry and Environment, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research - Spanish Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain.
Environ Pollut. 2025 Mar 1;368:125660. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2025.125660. Epub 2025 Jan 10.
Changes in climate and land-use have significantly increased both the frequency and intensity of wildland fires globally, exacerbating the potential for hazardous impacts on human health. A better understanding of particle exposure concentrations and scenarios is crucial for developing mitigation strategies to reduce the health risks. Here, PM and black carbon (BC) concentrations were monitored during wildland fires between 2022 and 2024, in fire-prone areas in Catalonia (NE Spain), by means of personal monitors (AirBeam2 and Micro-aethalometers AE51 and MA200). Results revealed that exposures to combustion aerosols (PM and BC) were significant and comparable during wildfires and prescribed burns (mean PM during wildfires = 152 μg/m vs. 110-145 μg/m for prescribed burns). Overall, BC/PM ratios showed a large variability as a function of the monitoring scenario, indicating varying contributions from mineral aerosols to the emissions mix originating from fire management and extinction tasks. Specifically, mop-up tasks (final extinction tasks involving stirring top soil using handheld tools) were identified as a significant contributor to PM exposures, with 1-min PM peak concentrations reaching up to 1190 μg/m. These results may be especially valuable for emissions modelling. Source apportionment of multi-wavelength BC datasets provided deeper insights into emissions and their impact on exposure profiles: line operators (who control the fire perimeter) were predominantly exposed to biomass burning smoke BC (61%) when compared to BC from fossil-fuel combustion (BC = 39%), while torchers (in charge of initiating technical fires using fossil-fuel drip-torches) were predominantly exposed to BC (77% vs. 23% BC). These findings highlight the value of portable monitors in the assessment of wildfire emissions and impacts on human exposure and environment. The combination of these tools, reporting data in real-time and with high time-resolution, is key to the design and implementation of effective mitigation strategies for environmental and health concerns related to wildland fires.
气候和土地利用变化显著增加了全球野火的频率和强度，加剧了对人类健康产生有害影响的可能性。更好地了解颗粒物暴露浓度和情况对于制定减轻健康风险的缓解策略至关重要。在此，通过个人监测器（AirBeam2以及微型黑碳仪AE51和MA200），于2022年至2024年期间在加泰罗尼亚（西班牙东北部）的火灾多发地区监测了野火期间的细颗粒物（PM）和黑碳（BC）浓度。结果显示，野火和规定燃烧期间燃烧气溶胶（PM和BC）的暴露量显著且相当（野火期间的平均PM = 152μg/m³，规定燃烧期间为110 - 145μg/m³）。总体而言，BC/PM比值随监测情况呈现出很大的变异性，表明矿物气溶胶对源自火灾管理和灭火任务的排放混合物的贡献各不相同。具体而言，清理任务（涉及使用手持工具翻动表层土壤的最终灭火任务）被确定为PM暴露的重要贡献因素，1分钟的PM峰值浓度高达1190μg/m³。这些结果对于排放建模可能特别有价值。多波长BC数据集的源解析为排放及其对暴露特征的影响提供了更深入的见解：与化石燃料燃烧产生的BC（BC = 39%）相比，线路操作员（控制火线周边）主要暴露于生物质燃烧烟雾中的BC（61%），而点火员（负责使用化石燃料滴液火炬引发技术火灾）主要暴露于BC（77%对23%的BC）。这些发现凸显了便携式监测器在评估野火排放及其对人类暴露和环境影响方面的价值。这些工具实时且具有高时间分辨率地报告数据，这对于设计和实施与野火相关的环境和健康问题的有效缓解策略至关重要。
