Fire smoke in the stratosphere

a new climate forcer

StratoFIRE

What is StratoFIRE.

Large-scale wildfires have been making global headlines over the recent years, highlighting the importance of fire and its feedback within the Earth System. The most extreme manifestation of a fire-weather interaction is the formation of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) thunderstorms, triggered by super-heated updrafts. To understand the multifaceted role of wild-fire smoke in the stratosphere and global climate, we need to characterize the microphysical and optical properties of the injected mixture of aerosols, describe their aging processes and quantify the radiative effects they may have along with radiative-important gases.

StratoFIRE will investigate the role of extreme pyroCb emissions in the lower stratosphere as a new short-lived climate forcer

StratoFIRE In the three years of this project we aim to.
Monitor stratospheric smoke

Monitor stratospheric smoke with a variety of ground-based and space-borne instruments, with particular emphasis given to continuous measurements at PANGEA observatory (PANhellenic GEophysical observatory of Antikythera).

Develop novel methodologies

Develop novel methodologies to infer emissions, optical properties and lifetime of smoke and quantify its corresponding radiative forcing.

Apply new information

Apply this new information to assess the climatic relevance of the stratospheric smoke intrusions.

StratoFIRE will address the following key Scientific Questions (SQs)

SQ1

What is the contribution of smoke in the interannual variability of stratospheric aerosols?

SQ2

What are the optical and microphysical properties of stratospheric smoke?

SQ3

What is the net radiative effect of stratospheric smoke and its impact on stratospheric heating?

StratoFIRE will provide the necessary breakthroughs in our understanding on the optical and microphysical properties of stratospheric smoke observations with modelling to significantly reduced uncertainties related to smoke emissions make use of global climate modelling for assessing climatic impact