Long-term study on coarse mode aerosols in the Amazon rain forest with the frequent intrusion of Saharan dust plumes

Morán-Zuloaga, Daniel; Ditas, Florian; Walter, David; Saturno, Jorge; Brito, Joel; Carbone, Samara; Chi, Xuguang; Angelis, Isabella Hrabě de; Baars, Holger; Godoi, Ricardo H. M.; Heese, Birgit; Holanda, Bruna A.; Lavrič, Jošt V.; Martin, Scot T.; Ming, Jing; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Ruckteschler, Nina; Su, Hang; Wang, Yaquiang; Wang, Zhibin; Weber, Bettina; Wolff, Stefan; Artaxo, Paulo; Pöschl, Ulrich; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Pöhlker, Christopher

doi:10.5194/acp-2017-1043

Cited by 21 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(100 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…3d. This is an indication of the dominance of fine mode aerosol (mostly BB related) during the dry season over the coarse mode aerosols that become more important in the wet season (i.e., PBAP, Saharan dust and sea salt), as previously observed at the ATTO site (Andreae et al, 2015; -Zuloaga et al, 2017). A similar seasonal trend has been observed at the ZF2 site, where å sca was 1.70 ± 1.41 and 1.48 ± 1.12 (30-min averages) for the dry and the wet season, respectively .…”

Section: Overview Of Aerosol Optical Properties (2012 -2017)supporting

confidence: 50%

“…January and April mineral dust plumes from Africa episodically dominate the aerosol load over the Amazon rain forest (Formenti et al, 2001;Guyon et al, 2004;Moran-Zuloaga et al, 2017;Talbot et al, 1990;Wang et al, 2016a). Moreover, the dust-enriched aerosol usually arrives together with BB aerosol emitted by fires in the sub-Sahelian west Africa and also aerosol particles emitted by industrial activities in Morocco and the western Sahara coast Salvador et al, 2016).…”

Section: Ground Measurements Of Aerosol Physical and Chemical Propertmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actually, when including data from the beginning of 2016, under the influence of ENSO, we observed a shift towards higher ER BC in the NE directions due to the occurrence of fires in the Guyanas area. These atypical data were excluded from The lower ER BC observed in the wet season was likely due to aerosol scavenging during the transatlantic advection (Moran-Zuloaga et al, 2017), while CO is not affected by wet deposition (Liu et al, 2010).…”

Section: Bc To Co Enhancement Ratiomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time periods of major and medium dust influence were taken from a study by Moran-Zuloaga et al (2017). During the dry season, BB pulses were segregated by using the 75 th percentile of σ ap 637 as a threshold.…”

Section: Data Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we used coarse mode (> 1 µm) number and mass concentrations obtained by means of an optical particle sizer (OPS) model 3330 (TSI Inc., Shoreview, USA) to identify mineral dust transport events. A detailed analysis of the Saharan dust plumes arrivals at the ATTO site can be found in Moran-Zuloaga et al (2017). Aerosol particle size distributions (10 -430 nm diameter) were measured with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) models 3080 and 3081 (TSI Inc., Shoreview, USA) using a condensation particle counter (CPC), model 3772 (TSI Inc., Shoreview, USA).…”

Section: Complementary Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Black and brown carbon over central Amazonia: Long-term aerosol measurements at the ATTO site

Saturno¹,

Holanda²,

Pöhlker³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The Amazon rain forest is considered a very sensitive ecosystem that could be significantly affected by a changing climate. It is still one of the few places on Earth where the atmosphere in the continent approaches near-pristine conditions for some periods of the year. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) has been built in central Amazonia to monitor the atmospheric and forest ecosystem conditions. The atmospheric conditions at the ATTO site oscillate between biogenic and biomass burning (BB) dominated states. By using a comprehensive ground-based aerosol measurement setup, we studied the physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles at the ATTO site. This parameterization of å abs as a function of the BC to OA mass ratio was investigated and was found applicable to tropical forest emissions but further investigation is required, especially by segregating fuel types. Additionally, important enhancements of the BC mass absorption cross-section (α abs ) were found over the measurement period. This enhancement could be linked to heavy coating of the BC aerosol particles. In the future, the BC mixing state should be systematically investigated by using different instrumental approaches.

show abstract

Section: Overview Of Aerosol Optical Properties (2012 -2017)supporting

confidence: 50%

Section: Ground Measurements Of Aerosol Physical and Chemical Propertmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bc To Co Enhancement Ratiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Complementary Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Black and brown carbon over central Amazonia: Long-term aerosol measurements at the ATTO site

Saturno¹,

Holanda²,

Pöhlker³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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...

show abstract

Atmospheric Transport of North African Dust‐Bearing Supermicron Freshwater Diatoms to South America: Implications for Iron Transport to the Equatorial North Atlantic Ocean

Barkley

Olson

Prospero

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The equatorial North Atlantic Ocean (NAO) is a nutrient‐limited ecosystem that relies on the deposition of long‐range transported iron (Fe)‐containing aerosols to stimulate primary productivity. Using microscopy, we characterized supermicron and supercoarse mode African aerosols transported to the western NAO in boreal winter/spring. We detected three particle types including African dust, primary biological aerosol particles, and freshwater diatoms (FDs). FDs contained 4% Fe by weight due to surficial dust inclusions that may be susceptible to chemical processing and dissolution. FDs were typically larger than dust particles and comprised 38% of particles between 10 and 18 μm in diameter. The low density, high surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio, and large aspect ratios of FD particles suggest a mechanism by which they can be carried great distances aloft. These same properties likely increase the residence time of FDs in surface waters thereby increasing the time for Fe dissolution and their potential impact on marine biogeochemical cycles.

show abstract

Long-term study on coarse mode aerosols in the Amazon rain forest with the frequent intrusion of Saharan dust plumes

Cited by 21 publications

References 51 publications

Black and brown carbon over central Amazonia: Long-term aerosol measurements at the ATTO site

Black and brown carbon over central Amazonia: Long-term aerosol measurements at the ATTO site

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

Atmospheric Transport of North African Dust‐Bearing Supermicron Freshwater Diatoms to South America: Implications for Iron Transport to the Equatorial North Atlantic Ocean

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About