Nitric acid and ammonia emissions from a mid‐latitude prescribed wetlands fire

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Abstract
We have obtained the first simultaneous measurements of gaseous nitric acid (HNO3) and ammonia (NH3) in the smoke plume of a wetlands biomass burn. These measurements were made using tungsten oxide‐coated diffusion denuder tubes from a helicopter during a prescribed burn at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, located at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 9, 1987. The mean NH3 and HNO3 mixing ratios measured in the smoke plume were 19 ppbv and 14 ppbv, respectively, both significantly higher than background mixing ratios. Nitric acid correlated well with carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the combustion. The mean CO2‐normalized emission ratio for HNO3 was found to be 1.2 × 10−4. Ammonia, however, did not correlate well with CO2 suggesting a more complex relationship between combustion and production/release of NH3.