Editor’s note: Drs. Larry Kleinman and Arthur Sedlacek are atmospheric chemists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory, spearheading BBOP. Today marks the conclusion of the field measurement phase of our Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) campaign. In just under 4 months, we sampled 17 wildfires, more than 2 dozen agricultural burns and a handful of urban…

Editor’s note: Eric Francavilla is an intern in the media relations department at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. On August 15, I joined Mary Beckman of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) media relations team for a media event held at the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) base of operations: a small hangar at Bergstrom Aircraft…

The Biomass Burning Observation Project, or BBOP, is a field campaign that is being carried out with the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerial Facility (AAF) of the U.S. Department of Energy this summer to measure the evolution of properties of aerosols produced by biomass burns. Biomass refers to any vegetation—trees, grass, etc.—and thus biomass burns…

Interview with scientists spearheading a research campaign: 120 flight hours through burning biomasses in the Pacific Northwest and Memphis this summer. From “flash” to “smoldering” to”‘aging”—I’m not talking about men or women. It is fires—specifically those from burning organic matter, also called ‘burning biomasses.’ Fires are sparked by a large number of causes, both natural…