Scientists from our Aerosol group published a new “Long-term study on coarse mode aerosols in the Amazon rainforest with the frequent intrusion of Saharan dust plumes”.
They analyzed the coarse fraction of aerosols (those that are at least 1 micrometer in diameter) every 5 minutes for over 3 years and were surprised to find that over this period the size and abundance of these “large” aerosol particles remained fairly constant. In contrast, the smaller aerosols are heavily influenced by the seasonal occurrence of smoke from fires. This coarse fraction, however, is mainly comprised of aerosols derived from the rainforest itself (such as pollen). That pattern only changes during the wet season (December through April), when Saharan dust, sea salt particles from the Atlantic and smoke from fires in Africa episodically make their way to the Amazon. Especially in February and March, pulses of African aerosols become so frequent they are the norm rather than the exception. Our scientists then used these data to estimate how much dust is deposited in the ATTO region each year: 5-10 kg per hectare, or 0.5-1 g per square meter.
You can read the full study by lead author Daniel Moran-Zuloaga in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Issue 18. It is published Open Access and thus freely available online. The data set is also available for further analysis (see publication for details)!
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