SIMULATION OF AIR POLLUTION FROM FOREST FIRES USING THE WRF CHEM MODEL IN SUMATRA ISLAND FOR OCTOBER 2015

• Main Author: Fiyannastiti
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/86760
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The large-scale forest fires that occurred from August to November 2015 caused an environmental disaster in Indonesia. Forest fires released aerosol particles that led to reduced visibility, environmental damage, and adverse effects on human health. These fires also emitted carbon compounds such as carbon monoxide (CO). Consequently, simulations of smoke dispersion from forest fires on Sumatra Island in 2015 were conducted to predict the direction of smoke spread and to compare the performance of the WRF-Chem model against Fire Inventory from NCAR (FINN) versions 1.5 and 2.5. This study utilized a numerical weather prediction model that integrates chemical parameters, namely the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. This model allows for the simulation of emissions and transport of smoke from forest fires. The initial and boundary data used in this study were sourced from The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Final (FNL) for the global atmospheric model, while the FINNv2.5 inventory was used as the input data for forest fire emissions. The results indicated that the direction of smoke dispersion from forest fires on Sumatra Island was consistent with the movement observed from Himawari-8 satellite imagery using True Color RGB composites. The WRF-Chem model simulations showed that smoke dispersion moved towards the northwest, north northeast, and northeast, resulting in smoke spreading to Singapore. Comparing the performance of the WRF-Chem model with the FINNv1.5 and FINNv2.5 inventories revealed that the results from FINNv2.5 were less consistent. Specifically, the WRF-FINNv2.5 model overestimated wind speed and direction, and underestimated temperature and relative humidity, in comparison to the WRF FINNv1.5 model outputs.