Analysis of Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Properties in the Northeast Brazilian Atmosphere with Remote Sensing Data from MODIS and CALIOP/CALIPSO Satellites, AERONET Photometers and a Ground-Based Lidar

Oliveira, Aline Macedo de; Souza, Cristina T.; Oliveira, Nara Poliana Meneses de; Melo, Aline K. S.; Lopes, Fábio; Landulfo, Eduardo; Elbern, Hendrik; Hoelzemann, Judith J.

doi:10.3390/atmos10100594

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…To better monitor transport from Africa during summer, a study site along the coast of Brazil between 5°S and 10°S would be ideal (de Oliveira et al, 2019;Moran-Zuloaga et al, 2018;C. Pöhlker et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing and Quantifying African Dust Transport and Deposition to South America: Implications for the Phosphorus Budget in the Amazon Basin

Prospero

Barkley

Gaston

et al. 2020

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Soils in the Amazon Basin are deficient in phosphorus, essential to soil fertility. Previous studies suggested that African mineral dust deposited to Amazonian soils served as an important source of phosphorus that enhances soil fertility. These studies lacked the quantitative measurements essential to validate estimates. Here we present daily measurements of mineral dust and PM 10 carried in the trade winds at Cayenne, French Guiana, during 2002-2017. MERRA-2 model dust concentrations showed excellent agreement with measurements over this period. Consequently, we used MERRA-2 to estimate temporal and spatial deposition rates to Amazonia. Our annual deposition rate, 8-10 Tg dust, is substantially lower than previous estimates. Deposition rates are greatest over the northern and northeastern regions of South America. In contrast, rates are low in central Amazonia. Our results raise questions about the impact of African dust on soil fertility in Amazonia. However, African aerosol transport carries other aerosol species that could play a role in soil fertility, including biomass-burning products known to contain substantial concentrations of phosphorus. Our study highlights the need for more measurements of aerosol and precipitation chemistry over wider expanses of South America in order to better characterize aerosol chemical and physical properties, to identify aerosol sources, and to constrain model estimates. We show that over 2002-2017 dust transport to South America was negatively correlated to rainfall over the Sahel in North Africa. Long-term monitoring is needed to capture changes in transport from Africa that might occur as a result of climate change. Plain Language Summary The Amazon Basin plays a major role in climate by removing huge quantities of carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere and storing the carbon in vegetation. This removal partially offsets the impact of CO 2 emitted by humans and the consequent rate of global warming. There is a concern about decreasing soil fertility in the Amazon Basin because of the loss of phosphorus, an essential plant nutrient, due to intense tropical weathering and biomass burning. Previous work suggested that large quantities of dust are transported from Africa to South America every year and deposited to the Amazon. Dust contains phosphorus and other nutrients that could mitigate soil losses and increase Amazonian soil fertility. However, estimates of the amount of dust carried to the Amazon are uncertain because of the lack of aerosol measurements. Our multiyear measurements of African dust in the trade winds in French Guiana, coupled with a chemical transport model, suggest that significant quantities of dust reach the heart of the Amazon Basin although the amounts are substantially less than had been previously estimated. This raises questions about the long-term status of soil fertility in the Amazon and the future impact on the carbon cycle. We also find that the quantities of dust transported to South America are inversely linked to rainfall in North Afri...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing and Quantifying African Dust Transport and Deposition to South America: Implications for the Phosphorus Budget in the Amazon Basin

Prospero

Barkley

Gaston

et al. 2020

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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“…The DUSTER Lidar system, situated at the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (DCAC) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), can measure marine aerosols' physical and optical properties. It can also measure aerosols (mineral dust) that cross the Atlantic Ocean and come from the desert Sahara, and aerosols originated from fires in the African continent [6,7]. The lidar system's design and installation in Natal result from a technical and scientific collaboration among UFRN and IPEN.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lidar Observations in South America. Part II - Troposphere

Landulfo¹,

Cacheffo²,

Yoshida³

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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In Part II of this chapter, we intend to show the significant advances and results concerning aerosols’ tropospheric monitoring in South America. The tropospheric lidar monitoring is also supported by the Latin American Lidar Network (LALINET). It is concerned about aerosols originating from urban pollution, biomass burning, desert dust, sea spray, and other primary sources. Cloud studies and their impact on radiative transfer using tropospheric lidar measurements are also presented.

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“…In other applications, skylight polarization is a viable option for navigation [11,12] and remote sensing [13,14]. It is commonly used to obtain the attitude and position of carriers [15] and to detect atmospheric composition or optical properties [16,17]. Recently, atmospheric polarization applications have expanded to include atmospheric sunlit sky polarization [18], in-water polarization [19,20], and moonlit sky polarization [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clear Night Sky Polarization Patterns Under the Super Blue Blood Moon

Yang

Jian

et al. 2020

Atmosphere

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Investigating celestial polarization patterns in the case of different environments is important for exploring the atmospheric radiative transfer mechanism. Although intensive studies on clear sky, foggy sky, and even total solar eclipse sky have been conducted, the polarization distribution generated by the moonlight has not been well investigated. This study analyzes celestial polarization patterns generated by the Super Blue Blood Moon (SBBM) through several comparative studies. The polarization patterns under the SBBM are collected, analyzed, and compared with both those generated by the ideal single-scattering Rayleigh model and those in the normal sky. From the analysis of the relative variation of the celestial polarization characteristics including the Degree of Polarization (DoP) and Angle of Polarization (AoP), the changes of the extremum, frequency, symmetric line, and neutral points are discussed. As a result, SBBM polarization patterns change at the beginning of the partial eclipse, and the neutral points vary from traditional neutral points. The value of DoP gradually decreases as the obscuration ratio of the Moon increases. The AoP is no longer symmetrical about the celestial meridian. As a conclusion, it is suggested that the variation of the polarized skylight during the SBBM should be considered in atmospheric model calculation for nocturnal biological activity and navigation information computation.

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Analysis of Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Properties in the Northeast Brazilian Atmosphere with Remote Sensing Data from MODIS and CALIOP/CALIPSO Satellites, AERONET Photometers and a Ground-Based Lidar

Cited by 17 publications

References 54 publications

Characterizing and Quantifying African Dust Transport and Deposition to South America: Implications for the Phosphorus Budget in the Amazon Basin

Characterizing and Quantifying African Dust Transport and Deposition to South America: Implications for the Phosphorus Budget in the Amazon Basin

Lidar Observations in South America. Part II - Troposphere

Clear Night Sky Polarization Patterns Under the Super Blue Blood Moon

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