Radiative cooling in New York/New Jersey metropolitan areas by wildfire particulate matter emitted from the Canadian wildfires of 2023
Wildfire particulate matter from Canadian forest fires significantly impacted the air quality in the northeastern United States during the summer of 2023. Here, we used real-time and time-integrated instrumentation to characterize the physicochemical properties and radiative effects of wildfire particulate matter reaching the metropolitan areas of New Jersey/ New York during this extreme incident. The radiative forcing of -352.4 W/m<sup>2</sup> derived here based on the measured optical properties of wildfire particulate matter explains, to some extent, the ground level temperature reduction of about 3 °C observed in New Jersey/ New York City during this incident. Such negative radiative forcing in densely populated megacities may limit natural ventilation, increase the residence time of wildfire particulate matter and background air pollutants, exacerbating public health risks. This study highlights the importance of radiative effects from wildfire particulate matter in densely populated areas and their potential implications for climate, air quality and public health.
Authors
- Panos G. Georgopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2119-0301)
- Irini Tsiodra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5392-8986)
- N. Mihalopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1282-0896)
- L. Calderon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8163-3736)
- Georgios A. Kelesidis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4220-9649)
- Ilias G. Kavouras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0436-3784)
- Philip Demokritou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2484-9143)
- Constantinos Moularas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3292-0533)
- José Guillermo Cedeño Laurent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7098-0954)
- N. Hatzianastassiou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6119-1793)
- Marios-Bruno Korras-Carraca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4946-5007)
- Hooman Parhizkar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0392-9459)
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Crete (GR)
- University of Ioannina (GR)
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (US)
- National Observatory of Athens (GR)
- Geospatial Research (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02214-3
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.90
Funders
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
- Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences