Fine Particle Emissions From Tropical Peat Fires Decrease Rapidly With Time Since Ignition.

Southeast Asia experiences frequent fires in fuel-rich tropical peatlands, leading to extreme episodes of regional haze with high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM) impacting human health. In a study published recently, the first field measurements of PM emission factors for tropical peat fires showed larger emissions than from other fuel types. Here we report even higher PM emission factors, measured at newly ignited peat fires in Malaysia, suggesting that current estimates of fine particulate emissions from peat fires may be underestimated by a factor of 3 or more.