Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals
An extreme biomass burning event occurred in the Amazonian rainforest from July through September 2019 due to the extensive wildfires used to clear the land, which allowed for more significant forest burning than previously occurred. In this study, we reclustered the clear-sky ambient aerosols to ad...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/9/2080 |
| _version_ | 1797503073672757248 |
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| author | Shuyun Yuan Fangwen Bao Xiaochuan Zhang Ying Li |
| author_facet | Shuyun Yuan Fangwen Bao Xiaochuan Zhang Ying Li |
| author_sort | Shuyun Yuan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An extreme biomass burning event occurred in the Amazonian rainforest from July through September 2019 due to the extensive wildfires used to clear the land, which allowed for more significant forest burning than previously occurred. In this study, we reclustered the clear-sky ambient aerosols to adapt the black carbon (BC) aerosol retrieval algorithm to Amazonia. This not only isolated the volumetric fraction of BC (<i>f<sub>bc</sub></i>) from moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol data, but also facilitated the use of aerosol mixing and scattering models to estimate the absorption properties of smoke plumes. The retrieved MODIS aerosol dataset provided a space perspective on characterizing the aerosol changes and trends of the 2019 pollution event. A very high aerosol optical depth (AOD) was found to affect the source areas continuously, with higher and thus stronger aerosol absorption. These pollutants also affected the atmosphere downwind due to the transport of air masses. In addition, properties of aerosols emitted from the 2019 Amazonian wildfire events visualized a significant year-to-year enhancement, with the averaged AOD at 550 nm increased by 150%. A 200% increase in the aerosol-absorption optical depth (AAOD) at 550 nm was recognized due to the low single-scattering albedo (SSA) caused by the explosive BC emissions during the pollution peak. Further simulations of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) showed that the biomass-burning aerosols emitted during the extreme Amazonian wildfires event in 2019 forced a significant change in the radiative balance, which not only produced greater heating of the atmospheric column through strong absorption of BC, but also reduced the radiation reaching the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface level. The negative radiative forcing at the TOA and surface level, as well as the positive radiative forcing in the atmosphere, were elevated by ~30% across the whole of South America compared to 2018. These radiative effects of the absorbing aerosol could have the ability to accelerate the deterioration cycle of drought and fire over the Amazonian rainforest. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:45:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb0df3d03f094f5cbb271759ea5a14b7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:45:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb0df3d03f094f5cbb271759ea5a14b72023-11-23T09:10:15ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-04-01149208010.3390/rs14092080Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS RetrievalsShuyun Yuan0Fangwen Bao1Xiaochuan Zhang2Ying Li3School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150059, ChinaCenter for Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at SUSTech (COAST), Department of Ocean Sciences and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaCenter for Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at SUSTech (COAST), Department of Ocean Sciences and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaCenter for Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at SUSTech (COAST), Department of Ocean Sciences and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaAn extreme biomass burning event occurred in the Amazonian rainforest from July through September 2019 due to the extensive wildfires used to clear the land, which allowed for more significant forest burning than previously occurred. In this study, we reclustered the clear-sky ambient aerosols to adapt the black carbon (BC) aerosol retrieval algorithm to Amazonia. This not only isolated the volumetric fraction of BC (<i>f<sub>bc</sub></i>) from moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol data, but also facilitated the use of aerosol mixing and scattering models to estimate the absorption properties of smoke plumes. The retrieved MODIS aerosol dataset provided a space perspective on characterizing the aerosol changes and trends of the 2019 pollution event. A very high aerosol optical depth (AOD) was found to affect the source areas continuously, with higher and thus stronger aerosol absorption. These pollutants also affected the atmosphere downwind due to the transport of air masses. In addition, properties of aerosols emitted from the 2019 Amazonian wildfire events visualized a significant year-to-year enhancement, with the averaged AOD at 550 nm increased by 150%. A 200% increase in the aerosol-absorption optical depth (AAOD) at 550 nm was recognized due to the low single-scattering albedo (SSA) caused by the explosive BC emissions during the pollution peak. Further simulations of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) showed that the biomass-burning aerosols emitted during the extreme Amazonian wildfires event in 2019 forced a significant change in the radiative balance, which not only produced greater heating of the atmospheric column through strong absorption of BC, but also reduced the radiation reaching the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface level. The negative radiative forcing at the TOA and surface level, as well as the positive radiative forcing in the atmosphere, were elevated by ~30% across the whole of South America compared to 2018. These radiative effects of the absorbing aerosol could have the ability to accelerate the deterioration cycle of drought and fire over the Amazonian rainforest.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/9/2080satellite remote sensingAmazon wildfireblack carbondirect radiative forcingaerosol optical properties |
| spellingShingle | Shuyun Yuan Fangwen Bao Xiaochuan Zhang Ying Li Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals Remote Sensing satellite remote sensing Amazon wildfire black carbon direct radiative forcing aerosol optical properties |
| title | Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals |
| title_full | Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals |
| title_fullStr | Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals |
| title_short | Severe Biomass-Burning Aerosol Pollution during the 2019 Amazon Wildfire and Its Direct Radiative-Forcing Impact: A Space Perspective from MODIS Retrievals |
| title_sort | severe biomass burning aerosol pollution during the 2019 amazon wildfire and its direct radiative forcing impact a space perspective from modis retrievals |
| topic | satellite remote sensing Amazon wildfire black carbon direct radiative forcing aerosol optical properties |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/9/2080 |
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