Smoke from Wildfires

(Smoke production, dispersion, modeling, and health impacts.)

Under construction.

Fig. 1.  Smoke plumes rising from the Dusty Lake wildfire. 

Wildfire Smoke Production 

(under construction).

Wildfire Smoke Plume Rise 

(under construction).

Dispersion of Wildfire Smoke 

Research advances at UBC (as presentations made at conferences):

• 2018 - 2-D simulations of smoke plume rise and smoke dispersion by Moisseeva et al
• 2020 - 3-D simulations and comparison with experimental burns by Moisseeva et al

Satellite & Surface Observations of Wildfire Smoke

• Satellite: RAMMB-CIRA https://satlib.cira.colostate.edu/event/western-canada-wildfires-2024/ 
• Surface: Univ. of Northern BC, Air Quality Map (using purple-air and other PM2.5 particulate smoke sensors) 

Wildfire Smoke Forecast Models 

Fig. 2. Extensive smoke coverage for 2 Aug 2025, as forecasted by the BlueSky model.


• Overview of smoke models worldwide. O'Neill et al (2022)
• BlueSky Canada (run by UBC). Description, from Stull's 2024 presentation slides.
• FireWork (run by ECCC). Technical description.
• BlueSky-Playground (run by UBC). A tool to estimate smoke dispersion from proposed burns, including prescribed fires and pile burns.  
• YouTube playlist of 4 tutorials on how to use and interpret BlueSky, BlueSky-Playground, and Fire Weather forecasts.    
• Ventilation Index (for planned and pile burns).  Forecasts made by ECCC, used by BC Ministry of Environment. (updated Sep 2025)

Health Impacts of Wildfire Smoke

• Overview of "Public Health Impact of Wildfire Smoke in Canada" as a pdf report and a video presented by Caroline Webber in 2023.
• BC Center for Disease Control BCCDC pamphlets on health effects of wildfire smoke, and what you can do to protect yourself.  Includes smoke composition, health effects, smoke vs. air quality, and many more.
• Bloomberg report on toxins left in homes after exposure to dense wildfire smoke in Palisades, Calif. Sep 2025.   
• Nature paper on long range health impacts of Canadian 2023 wildfire smoke.  Zhang, Q., Wang, Y., Xiao, Q. et al. Long-range PM2.5 pollution and health impacts from the 2023 Canadian wildfires. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09482-1 .