Wildfire Smoke: Distribution, Particle Characterization, and Impacts on Lakes

SUDEEP CHANDRA; JANICE BRAHNEY; FACUNDO SCORDO; CARINA SEITZ; STEVEN SADRO; ERIN SUENAGA; EMILY M. CARLSON; FLAVIA TROMBONI; CRAIG E. WILLIAMSON; JOSHUA CULPEPPER; KEVIN C. ROSE; ERIN OVERHOLT; JOANNA BLAZSCZAK; KELLY LORIA

Palma de Mallorca

Congreso; ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2023 Resilience and Recovery in Aquatic Systems; 2023

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

Large wildfi res are increasing worldwide, but the impacts ofwildfi re smoke on lakes and their airsheds are rarely studied. Weinvestigated the fundamental properties of wildfi re smoke-ashthat is transported and deposited around Lake Tahoe after theCaldor and other large fi res in 2021. The amount of smokedeposited around the lake is highly variable depending on theproximity of ignition and the nutrient and metal quality ofmaterials and their potential for infl uencing water quality(productivity and oxygen) are variable depending on location ofdeposition. We also summarize our fi ndings from the impactsof wildfi re smoke in 2018 on the airshed and mesotrophicCastle Lake. Incident ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation andphotosynthetically active radiation (PAR) decreased by 53% and28%, respectively, while the water column extinction coeffi cientof UV-B and PAR increased by 20% and 18% respectively.Pelagic productivity in the epilimnion increased during smokecover because of decreased solar inputs with a decrease indeep water productivity. Despite changes in light andproductivity in the offshore, zooplankton dynamics (biomass,composition, and migration), did not change but fi shes werevirtually absent in the nearshore during the smoke period.