A field study on grass field burning was conducted in the Willamette Valley of Oregon during the summer of 1965. Approximately 243,000 acres of grass fields are burned in the valley during August and September. Serious air pollution problems result from this burning. The purposes of the study were to determine the effect of environmental variables on grass field burning and to determine if conditions exist when significant air pollution reduction can be achieved. The environmental variables investigated were time from harvest to burning, time of day, air temperature, relative humidity, soil and straw moisture, wind speed and direction, and fuel density. The dependent variables measured were particulate emission and size distribution, combustion temperature, burn rate, amount of residue, percent of organics in the particulate, and smoke appearance. The results were analyzed statistically using a correlation matrix and a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis to determine the significant variables and their relationship. Environmental variables were found to affect the grass field burning process causing significant differences in some of the dependent variables.

Many agricultural fields are burned in the Willamette Valley of Oregon during the summer for economic reasons. A major air pollution problem results from these burnings. The purpose of this study was to develop relations between the maximum plume height and some of the independent variables affecting this plume height, such as, burn rate, wind velocity and atmospheric stability. By applying the proper relations found in this study, one could predict the maximum height a field burning plume would reach. The higher the plume rise, the lower the concentration of the plume effluents at ground level. If a relationship between the maximum plume height and the ground level concentration is known, for an accepted limit of ground concentration, the issuance of permission for the burning of a certain field could be given knowing the environmental variables. Three equations for different environmental conditions were developed through dimensional analysis. Their constants of proportionalities were obtained experimentally.

Global Biomass Burning provides a convenient and current reference on such topics as the remote sensing of biomass burning from space, the geographical distribution of burning; the combustion products of burning in tropical, temperate, and boreal ecosystems; burning as a global source of atmospheric gases and particulates; the impact of biomass burning gases and particulates on global climate; and the role of biomass burning on biodiversity and past global extinctions."--Pub. desc.