USING a smoke 鈥渇ingerprint鈥�, researchers can now tell how much air pollution
comes from domestic wood fires, which region the smoke came from, and whether
levels are high enough to justify restrictions on burning.
鈥淲e can figure out how much wood smoke is in the air, and exactly who burnt
it,鈥� says Glen Cass of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. 鈥淚t
contributes to visibility problems and can irritate eyes,鈥� he says.
His latest results, in Environmental Science and Technology (vol 35,
p 2665), list smoke chemicals from six major wood types, including red
maple鈥攖he most widely available firewood in the US. By comparing the
fallout from each, they鈥檝e identified chemical 鈥渇ingerprints鈥� unique to
particular species.
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