Investigating the Long-Range Transport of Aerosol Plumes Following the Amazon Fires (August 2019): A Multi-Instrumental Approach from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations

Remote Sensing

Nkanyiso Mbatha¹  Lerato Shikwambana²  FábioJuliano da Silva Lopes³  Damaris Kirsch Pinheiro⁴  Vagner Anabor⁴  Juliette Hadji-Lazaro⁵  Nelson Bègue⁶  Thomas Vescovini⁶  Hassan Bencherif⁶  DavidJean du Preez⁶  Jean-Maurice Cadet⁶  JonatanJoão Silva⁷  Eduardo Landulfo⁷  Venkataraman Sivakumar⁸  Casper Labuschagne⁹  Cathy Clerbaux^1,10  Pierre-François Coheur^1,10 

[1] Department of Geography, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa;Earth Observation Directorate, South African National Space Agency, Pretoria 0001, South Africa;Environmental Science Department, Institute of Environmental, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, Federal University of São Paulo—UNIFESP, Rua São Nicolau, 210, Centro, Diadema, São Paulo 09913-030, Brazil;Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS 97105-900, Brazil;LATMOS/IPSL, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France;Laboratoire de l’Atmosphère et des Cyclones (LACy, UMR 8105 CNRS, Université de la Réunion, Météo-France), Université de La Réunion, 97400 La Réunion, France;Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN), Center for Lasers and Applications (CLA), São Paulo (SP) 05508-000, Brazil;School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa;South African Weather Service, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa;Spectroscopy, Quantum Chemistry and Atmospheric Remote Sensing (SQUARES), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels 1050, Belgium;

关键词: biomass burning;    Amazonia;    Brazil;    aerosols;    plume transport;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs12223846

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Despite a number of studies on biomass burning (BB) emissions in the atmosphere, observation of the associated aerosols and pollutants requires continuous efforts. Brazil, and more broadly Latin America, is one of the most important seasonal sources of BB, particularly in the Amazon region. Uncertainty about aerosol loading in the source regions is a limiting factor in terms of understanding the role of aerosols in climate modelling. In the present work, we investigated the Amazon BB episode that occurred during August 2019 and made the international headlines, especially when the smoke plumes plunged distant cities such as São Paulo into darkness. Here, we used satellite and ground-based observations at different locations to investigate the long-range transport of aerosol plumes generated by the Amazon fires during the study period. The monitoring of BB activity was carried out using fire related pixel count from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua and Terra platforms, while the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and total columns were obtained from the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI) onboard the METOP-A and METOP-B satellites. In addition, AERONET sun-photometers as well as the MODIS instrument made aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements over the study region. Our datasets are consistent with each other and highlight AOD and CO variations and long-range transport of the fire plume from the source regions in the Amazon basin. We used the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART (FLEXible PARTicle) to simulate backward dispersion, which showed good agreement with satellite and ground measurements observed over the study area. The increase in Rossby wave activity during the 2019 austral winter the Southern Hemisphere may have contributed to increasing the efficiency of large-scale transport of aerosol plumes generated by the Amazon fires during the study period.

【 授权许可】

Unknown