Random Forest Spatial-Temporal and State Space Models to Assess the Impact of Bushfire-Induced Aerosol Events on Ozone Depletion in Australia

Serious concerns exist that the increasing frequency of fires may delay the recovery of ozone given increasing temperatures due to climate change. Australian bushfires from September 2019 to February 2020 were catastrophic. A random forest spatial-temporal (RF sp) analysis using satellite data to detect an association between Australian bushfires and stratosphere ozone on the local depletion of ozone in the vicinity of fires in three regions of Australia (Pacific Ocean, Victoria, NSW) has shown a significant reduction in ozone attributable to aerosols from fires. By intervention analysis, increases in aerosols in all three regions were shown to have a significant and ongoing impact 1–5 days later on reducing ozone (p < 0.0001). Intervention analysis also gave similar periods of aerosol exceedance to those found by Hidden Markov models (HMMs). HMMs established a significant and quantifiable decline in ozone due to bushfire-induced aerosols, with significant lags of 10–25 days between times of aerosol exceedance and subsequent ozone level decline in all three regions.