scholarly journals Long range transport and mixing of aerosol sources during the 2013 North American biomass burning episode: analysis of multiple lidar observations in the Western Mediterranean basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (22) ◽  
pp. 32323-32365 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ancellet ◽  
J. Pelon ◽  
J. Totems ◽  
P. Chazette ◽  
A. Bazureau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
North American ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Sources ◽  
Aerosol Source

Abstract. Long range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosols between North America and the Mediterranean region took place in June 2013. A large number of ground based and airborne lidar measurements were deployed in the Western Mediterranean during the Chemistry-AeRosol Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx) intensive observation period. A detailed analysis of the potential North American aerosol sources is conducted including the assessment of their transport to Europe using forward simulations of the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model initialized using satellite observations by MODIS and CALIOP. The three dimensional structure of the aerosol distribution in the ChArMEx domain observed by the ground-based lidars (Menorca, Barcelona and Lampedusa), a Falcon-20 aircraft flight and three CALIOP tracks, agree very well with the model simulation of the three major sources considered in this work: Canadian and Colorado fires, a dust storm from Western US and the contribution of Saharan dust streamers advected from the North Atlantic trade wind region into the Westerlies region. Four aerosol types were identified using the optical properties of the observed aerosol layers (aerosol depolarization ratio, lidar ratio) and the transport model analysis of the contribution of each aerosol source: (I) pure BB layer, (II) weakly dusty BB, (III) significant mixture of BB and dust transported from the trade wind region (IV) the outflow of Saharan dust by the subtropical jet and not mixed with BB aerosol. The contribution of the Canadian fires is the major aerosol source during this episode while mixing of dust and BB is only significant at altitude above 5 km. The mixing corresponds to a 20–30 % dust contribution in the total aerosol backscatter. The comparison with the MODIS AOD horizontal distribution during this episode over the Western Mediterranean sea shows that the Canadian fires contribution were as large as the direct northward dust outflow from Sahara.

scholarly journals Long-range transport and mixing of aerosol sources during the 2013 North American biomass burning episode: analysis of multiple lidar observations in the western Mediterranean basin

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 4725-4742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Ancellet ◽  
Jacques Pelon ◽  
Julien Totems ◽  
Patrick Chazette ◽  
Ariane Bazureau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
North American ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Sources ◽  
Aerosol Source

Abstract. Long-range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosols between North America and the Mediterranean region took place in June 2013. A large number of ground-based and airborne lidar measurements were deployed in the western Mediterranean during the Chemistry-AeRosol Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx) intensive observation period. A detailed analysis of the potential North American aerosol sources is conducted including the assessment of their transport to Europe using forward simulations of the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model initialized using satellite observations by MODIS and CALIOP. The three-dimensional structure of the aerosol distribution in the ChArMEx domain observed by the ground-based lidars (Minorca, Barcelona and Lampedusa), a Falcon-20 aircraft flight and three CALIOP tracks, agrees very well with the model simulation of the three major sources considered in this work: Canadian and Colorado fires, a dust storm from western US and the contribution of Saharan dust streamers advected from the North Atlantic trade wind region into the westerlies region. Four aerosol types were identified using the optical properties of the observed aerosol layers (aerosol depolarization ratio, lidar ratio) and the transport model analysis of the contribution of each aerosol source: (i) pure BB layer, (ii) weakly dusty BB, (iii) significant mixture of BB and dust transported from the trade wind region, and (iv) the outflow of Saharan dust by the subtropical jet and not mixed with BB aerosol. The contribution of the Canadian fires is the major aerosol source during this episode while mixing of dust and BB is only significant at an altitude above 5 km. The mixing corresponds to a 20–30 % dust contribution in the total aerosol backscatter. The comparison with the MODIS aerosol optical depth horizontal distribution during this episode over the western Mediterranean Sea shows that the Canadian fire contributions were as large as the direct northward dust outflow from Sahara.

Impact of field biomass burning on local pollution and long-range transport of PM2.5 in Northeast Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 244 ◽  
pp. 414-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsushige Uranishi ◽  
Fumikazu Ikemori ◽  
Hikari Shimadera ◽  
Akira Kondo ◽  
Seiji Sugata
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Range Transport

scholarly journals Tropospheric CO vertical profiles measured by IAGOS aircraft in 2002–2017 and the role of biomass burning

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Hervé Petetin ◽  
Bastien Sauvage ◽  
Mark Parrington ◽  
Hannah Clark ◽  
Alain Fontaine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
South India ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Range Transport

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> This study investigates the role of biomass burning and long-range transport in the anomalies of carbon monoxide (CO) regularly observed along the tropospheric vertical profiles measured in the framework of IAGOS. Considering the high interannual variability of biomass burning emissions and the episodic nature of pollution long-range transport, one strength of this study is the amount of data taken into account, namely 30,000 vertical profiles at 9 clusters of airports in Europe, North America, Asia, India and southern Africa over the period 2002&amp;ndash;2017. </p> <p> As a preliminary, a brief overview of the spatio-temporal variability, latitudinal distribution, interannual variability and trends of biomass burning CO emissions from 14 regions is provided. The distribution of CO mixing ratios at different levels of the troposphere is also provided based on the entire IAGOS database (125 million CO observations). </p> <p> This study focuses on the free troposphere (altitudes above 2<span class="thinspace"></span>km) where the long-range transport of pollution is favoured. Anomalies at a given airport cluster are here defined as departures from the local seasonally-averaged climatological vertical profile. The intensity of these anomalies varies significantly depending on the airport, with maximum (minimum) CO anomalies of 110&amp;ndash;150 (48)<span class="thinspace"></span>ppbv in Asia (Europe). Looking at the seasonal variation of the frequency of occurrence, the 25<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest CO anomalies appears reasonably well distributed along the year, in contrast to the 5<span class="thinspace"></span>% or 1<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest anomalies that exhibit a strong seasonality with for instance more frequent anomalies during summertime in northern United-States, during winter/spring in Japan, during spring in South-east China, during the non-monsoon seasons in south-east Asia and south India, and during summer/fall at Windhoek, Namibia. Depending on the location, these strong anomalies are observed in different parts of the free troposphere. </p> <p> In order to investigate the role of biomass burning emissions in these anomalies, we used the SOFT-IO v1.0 IAGOS added-value products that consist of FLEXPART 20-days backward simulations along all IAGOS aircraft trajectories, coupled with anthropogenic (MACCity) and biomass burning (GFAS) CO emission inventories and vertical injections. SOFT-IO estimates the contribution (in ppbv) of the recent (less than 20 days) primary worldwide CO emissions, tagged per source region. Biomass burning emissions are found to play an important role in the strongest CO anomalies observed at most airport clusters. The regional tags indicate a large contribution from boreal regions at airport clusters in Europe and North America during summer season. In both Japan and south India, the anthropogenic emissions dominate all along the year, except for the strongest summertime anomalies observed in Japan that are due to Siberian fires. The strongest CO anomalies at airport clusters located in south-east Asia are induced by fires burning during spring in south-east Asia and during fall in equatorial Asia. In southern Africa, the Windhoek airport was mainly impacted by fires in southern hemisphere Africa and South America. </p> <p> To our knowledge, no other studies have used such a large dataset of in situ vertical profiles for deriving a climatology of the impact of biomass burning versus anthropogenic emissions on the strongest CO anomalies observed in the troposphere, in combination with information on the source regions. This study therefore provides both qualitative and quantitative information for interpreting the highly variable CO vertical distribution in several regions of interest.</p>

scholarly journals Insights into the aging of biomass burning aerosol from satellite observations and 3D atmospheric modeling: evolution of the aerosol optical properties in Siberian wildfire plumes

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-392
Author(s):  
Igor B. Konovalov ◽  
Nikolai A. Golovushkin ◽  
Matthias Beekmann ◽  
Meinrat O. Andreae
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
Smoke Plumes ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Aging

Abstract. Long-range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosol from regions affected by wildfires is known to have a significant impact on the radiative balance and air quality in receptor regions. However, the changes that occur in the optical properties of BB aerosol during long-range transport events are insufficiently understood, limiting the adequacy of representations of the aerosol processes in chemistry transport and climate models. Here we introduce a framework to infer and interpret changes in the optical properties of BB aerosol from satellite observations of multiple BB plumes. Our framework includes (1) a procedure for analysis of available satellite retrievals of the absorption and extinction aerosol optical depths (AAOD and AOD) and single-scattering albedo (SSA) as a function of the BB aerosol photochemical age and (2) a representation of the AAOD and AOD evolution with a chemistry transport model (CTM) involving a simplified volatility basis set (VBS) scheme with a few adjustable parameters. We apply this framework to analyze a large-scale outflow of BB smoke plumes from Siberia toward Europe that occurred in July 2016. We use AAOD and SSA data derived from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite measurements in the near-UV range along with 550 nm AOD and carbon monoxide (CO) columns retrieved from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) satellite observations, respectively, to infer changes in the optical properties of Siberian BB aerosol due to its atmospheric aging and to get insights into the processes underlying these changes. Using the satellite data in combination with simulated data from the CHIMERE CTM, we evaluate the enhancement ratios (EnRs) that allow isolating AAOD and AOD changes due to oxidation and gas–particle partitioning processes from those due to other processes, including transport, deposition, and wet scavenging. The behavior of EnRs for AAOD and AOD is then characterized using nonlinear trend analysis. It is found that the EnR for AOD strongly increases (by about a factor of 2) during the first 20–30 h of the analyzed evolution period, whereas the EnR for AAOD does not exhibit a statistically significant increase during this period. The increase in AOD is accompanied by a statistically significant enhancement of SSA. Further BB aerosol aging (up to several days) is associated with a strong decrease in EnRs for both AAOD and AOD. Our VBS simulations constrained by the observations are found to be more consistent with satellite observations of strongly aged BB plumes than “tracer” simulations in which atmospheric transformations of BB organic aerosol were disregarded. The simulation results indicate that the upward trends in EnR for AOD and in SSA are mainly due to atmospheric processing of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), leading to an increase in the mass scattering efficiency of BB aerosol. Evaporation and chemical fragmentation of the SOA species, part of which is assumed to be absorptive (to contain brown carbon), are identified as likely reasons for the subsequent decrease in the EnR for both AAOD and AOD. Hence, our analysis reveals that the long-range transport of smoke plumes from Siberian fires is associated with major changes in BB aerosol optical properties and chemical composition. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using available satellite observations for evaluating and improving representations in atmospheric models of the BB aerosol aging processes in different regions of the world at much larger temporal scales than those typically addressed in aerosol chamber experiments.

scholarly journals Long-range Transport of Aerosols from Biomass Burning over Southeastern South America and their Implications on Air Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1734-1745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Droprinchinski Martins ◽  
Ricardo Hallak ◽  
Rafaela Cruz Alves ◽  
Daniela S. de Almeida ◽  
Rafaela Squizzato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
South America ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport

scholarly journals Lagrangian formation pathways of moist anomalies in the trade-wind region during the dry season: two case studies from EUREC<sup>4</sup>A

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Villiger ◽  
Heini Wernli ◽  
Maxi Boettcher ◽  
Martin Hagen ◽  
Franziska Aemisegger
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cold Front ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
The North ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. Shallow clouds in the trade-wind region over the North Atlantic contribute substantially to the global radiative budget. In the vicinity of the Caribbean island Barbados, they appear in different mesoscale organisation patterns with distinct net cloud radiative effects (CRE). Cloud formation processes in this region are typically controlled by the prevailing large-scale subsidence. However, occasionally weather systems from remote origin cause significant disturbances. This study investigates the complex cloud-circulation interactions during the field campaign EUREC4A (Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation) from 16 January to 20 February 2020, using a combination of Eulerian and Lagrangian diagnostics. Based on observations and ERA5 reanalyses, we identify the relevant processes and characterise the formation pathways of two moist anomalies above the Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO), one in the lower (~1000–650 hPa) and one in the middle troposphere (~650–300 hPa). These moist anomalies are associated with strongly negative CRE values and with contrasting long-range transport processes from the extratropics and the tropics, respectively. The low-level moist anomaly is characterised by an unusually thick cloud layer, high precipitation totals and a strongly negative CRE. Its formation is connected to an “extratropical dry intrusion” (EDI) that interacts with a trailing cold front. A quasi-climatological (2010–2020) analysis reveals that EDIs lead to different conditions at the BCO depending on how they interact with the associated cold front. Based on this climatology, we discuss the relevance of the strong large-scale forcing by EDIs for the low-cloud patterns near the BCO and the related CRE. The second case study about the mid-tropospheric moist anomaly is associated with an extended and persistent mixed-phase shelf cloud and the lowest daily CRE value observed during the campaign. Its formation is linked to “tropical mid-level detrainment” (TMD), which refers to detrainment from tropical deep convection near the melting layer. The quasi-climatological analysis shows that TMDs consistently lead to mid-tropospheric moist anomalies over the BCO and that the detrainment height controls the magnitude of the anomaly. However, no systematic relationship was found between the amplitude of this mid-tropospheric moist anomaly and the CRE at the BCO. Overall, this study reveals the important impact of the long-range transport, driven by dynamical processes either in the extratropics or the tropics, on the variability of the vertical structure of moisture and clouds, and on the resulting CRE in the North Atlantic winter trades.

scholarly journals Inconsistent decadal variations between surface and free tropospheric nitrogen oxides over United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Jiang ◽  
Helen Worden ◽  
John R. Worden ◽  
Daven K. Henze ◽  
Dylan B. A. Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Long Range ◽  
North American ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Decreases in surface emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) in North America have led to substantial improvements in air-quality over the last several decades. Here we show that satellite observations of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns over the contiguous United States (US) do not decrease after about 2009, while surface NO2 concentrations continue to decline through to the present. This divergence, if it continues, could have a substantial impact on surface air quality due to mixing of free-tropospheric air into the boundary layer. Our results show only limited contributions from local effects such as fossil fuel emissions, lightning, or instrument artifacts, but we do find a possible relationship of NO2 changes to decadal climate variability. Our analysis demonstrates that the intensity of transpacific transport is stronger in El Niño years and weaker in La Niña years, and consequently, that decadal-scale climate variability impacts the contribution of Asian emissions on North American atmospheric composition. Because of the short lifetime, it is usually believed that the direct contribution of long-range transport to tropospheric NOx distribution is limited. If our hypothesis about transported Asian emissions is correct, then this observed divergence between satellite and surface NOx could indicate mechanisms that allow for either NOx or its reservoir species to have a larger than expected effect on North American tropospheric composition. These results therefore suggest more aircraft and satellite studies to determine the possible missing processes in our understanding of the long-range transport of tropospheric NOx.

scholarly journals Long-Range Transport of Saharan Dust to East Asia Observed with Lidars

SOLA ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 121-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Bong Park ◽  
Nobuo Sugimoto ◽  
Ichiro Matsui ◽  
Atsushi Shimizu ◽  
Boyan Tatarov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport
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