Understanding volatile organic compound emissions from wildfires in the western United States

The Woosley Fire burns near Malibu, California, in November 2018. Credit: Peter Buschmann, USDA Forest Service

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are chemicals that can be emitted from a variety of products and processes, impacting air quality, public health, and climate. The second-largest source of VOC pollutants is biomass burning, which includes wildfires. A certain type of computer simulation called a chemical transport model is often used by researchers to represent wildfire impacts, because they can track air pollutants as they move through Earth systems and undergo chemical transformations in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, wildfire smoke results produced by these models are often inaccurate because they do not start with a complete picture of VOC emissions.