A pervasive role for biomass burning in tropical high ozone/low water structures

Anderson, Daniel C.; Nicely, Julie M.; Salawitch, Ross J.; Canty, Timothy P.; Dickerson, Russell R.; Hanisco, Thomas F.; Wolfe, Glenn M.; Apel, Eric C.; Atlas, Elliot; Bannan, Thomas; Bauguitte, Stephane; Blake, Nicola J.; Bresch, James F.; Campos, Teresa L.; Carpenter, Lucy J.; Cohen, Mark D.; Evans, Mathew; Fernandez, Rafael P.; Kahn, Brian H.; Kinnison, Douglas E.; Hall, Samuel R.; Harris, Neil R.P.; Hornbrook, Rebecca S.; Lamarque, Jean-Francois; Le Breton, Michael; Lee, James D.; Percival, Carl; Pfister, Leonhard; Pierce, R. Bradley; Riemer, Daniel D.; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso; Stunder, Barbara J.B.; Thompson, Anne M.; Ullmann, Kirk; Vaughan, Adam; Weinheimer, Andrew J.

doi:10.1038/ncomms10267

i

A pervasive role for biomass burning in tropical high ozone/low water structures

2016
By Anderson, Daniel C. ; Nicely, Julie M. ; Salawitch, Ross J. ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Nature Communications
Personal Author:

Anderson, Daniel C. ; Nicely, Julie M. ; Salawitch, Ross J. ; Canty, Timothy P. ; Dickerson, Russell R. ; Hanisco, Thomas F. ; Wolfe, Glenn M. ; Apel, Eric C. ; Atlas, Elliot ; Bannan, Thomas ; Bauguitte, Stephane ; Blake, Nicola J. ; Bresch, James F. ; Campos, Teresa L. ; Carpenter, Lucy J. ; Cohen, Mark D. ; Evans, Mathew ; Fernandez, Rafael P. ; Kahn, Brian H. ; Kinnison, Douglas E. ; Hall, Samuel R. ; Harris, Neil R.P. ; Hornbrook, Rebecca S. ; Lamarque, Jean-Francois ; Le Breton, Michael ; Lee, James D. ; Percival, Carl ; Pfister, Leonhard ; Pierce, R. Bradley ; Riemer, Daniel D. ; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso ; Stunder, Barbara J.B. ; Thompson, Anne M. ; Ullmann, Kirk ; Vaughan, Adam ; Weinheimer, Andrew J.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; ARL (Air Resources Laboratory) ; NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; STAR (Center for Satellite Applications and Research)
Description:

Air parcels with mixing ratios of high O-3 and low H2O (HOLW) are common features in the tropical western Pacific (TWP) mid-troposphere (300-700 hPa). Here, using data collected during aircraft sampling of the TWP in winter 2014, we find strong, positive correlations of O-3 with multiple biomass burning tracers in these HOLW structures. Ozone levels in these structures are about a factor of three larger than background. Models, satellite data and aircraft observations are used to show fires in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia are the dominant source of high O-3 and that low H2O results from large-scale descent within the tropical troposphere. Previous explanations that attribute HOLW structures to transport from the stratosphere or mid-latitude troposphere are inconsistent with our observations. This study suggest a larger role for biomass burning in the radiative forcing of climate in the remote TWP than is commonly appreciated.
Keywords:

Atmospheric Chemistry Ozone Water Vapor, Atmospheric Atmospheric Chemistry Water Vapor, Atmospheric
Source:

Nature Communications 7 (10267)
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10267
Pubmed Central ID:

PMC4735513
Document Type:

Journal Article
Place as Subject:

Pacific Ocean
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

PMC
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:c0cd4ccaf70320be411f515d400da7a719ea958ecb3cf3db6ea37f8d21b9f40360c30acc1712331318c7422d3f39531f33cf69889e793353ef9661c6a838b59f
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/24148/noaa_24148_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 1.59 MB ]

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