Wildfire Haze - How does temperature change affect the smoke?

Wildfire Haze - How does temperature change affect the smoke?

1 Expert Answer

Alexei Khalizov

Associate Professor, Chemistry and Environmental Science,  New Jersey Institute of Technology

If the temperature increases that may accelerate the rate of some chemical reactions that will also be accelerated by the sunlight. And that's one reason why the smoke that was released in Canada is not exactly the same smoke that we experience in New Jersey. As this haze is traveling over three to six hundred miles, it undergoes a number of chemical reactions and even the smell changes. You know how freshly released wood smoke smells — it's actually pretty pleasant. What we're smelling now, it's not pleasant at all. That's the result of those chemical reactions, which makes this even more unhealthy.

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