Biomass burning emits an estimated 20% of global annual nitrogen oxides (NOx), an important constituent that participates in the oxidative chemistry of the atmosphere. Estimates of NOx emission factors, representing the amount of NOx
10 per mass burned, are primarily based on field or laboratory case studies, but the sporadic and transient nature of wildfires makes it challenging to verify whether these case studies represent the behaviour of the global fires occur on earth. Satellite remote sensing provides a unique view of the earth, allowing the study of emission and downwind evolution of NOx from a large number of fires. We describe direct estimates of NOx emissions and lifetime for fires using an exponentially modified Gaussian analysis of daily TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) retrievals of NO2 tropospheric columns. We
15 correct the low bias of satellite retrieved NO2 columns over fire plumes by replacing the a priori profile of NO2 with a fineresolution (0.25˚) global model simulation from NASA’s GEOS Composition Forecasting System (GEOS-CF). We derive representative NOx emission factors for six fuel types globally by linking TROPOMI derived NOx emissions with observations of fire radiative power from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Satellite-derived NOx emission factors are largely consistent with those derived from in-situ measurements. We observe decreasing NOx lifetime with fire
20 intensity, which we infer is due to the increase in both NOx abundance and hydroxyl radical production. Our findings suggest promise for applying space-based observations to track the emissions and chemical evolution of reactive nitrogen from wildfires.