releases fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) that can adversely affect respiratory and other health
outcomes. This study investigates the relationship between wildfire activity and ambient PM₂.₅
concentrations in Los Angeles County and Jakarta, Indonesia. Fire activity was measured using
fire radiative power from NASA’s NOAA-21 satellite and correlated with daily average PM2.5
measurements from EPA and OpenAQ ground monitors. For each monitor-day, wildfire activity
was calculated using fire detections within a 25-km radius of the PM₂.₅ monitor, including total
number of fires, total FRP, and distance-weighted FRP. In Los Angeles, the strongest relationship
between wildfire activity and ambient PM₂.₅ was observed for the total number of fire detections
within 25 km of the three monitors closest to the Palisades Fire, with a statistically significant
positive correlation (Pearson’s r = 0.4985, R² = 0.2485, p = 2.21 × 10⁻³⁶). In comparison,
correlations between wildfire activity metrics and ambient PM₂.₅ were substantially weaker in
Jakarta, suggesting that wildfire activity accounted for less of the observed variation in ambient
PM₂.₅ in Jakarta than in Los Angeles. These findings demonstrate that regional differences lead
to different sources of ambient PM2.5 and further research is needed to determine the health
effects of wildfire-specific PM2.5.
Research Poster: Where There's Fire, There's Smoke: Correlating Wildfire Activity with PM2.5 In Los Angeles, California and Jakarta, Indonesia
Thank you so much to my mentor, Dr. Song Gao, for his invaluable guidance throughout this
project. I would also like to express my gratitude towards the Laidlaw Scholars Foundation and
the Georgetown University Laidlaw Scholars Programme for their support of my research.