The relationship of boundary layer clouds in the tropical southeast Atlantic to absorbing aerosols, meteorology and climate change

Abstract:

Ascension Island, a remote island located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean within the trade-wind region oat 8S, 14.5W, experiences the outflow of biomass-burning aerosols from continental Africa, over 2000 km away, from July through November, peaking in August and September. The shortwave-absorbing free-tropospheric aerosols, located in a region of high solar irradiance, provide a climate warming that is poorly represented in global aerosol climate models. The low clouds can respond to the smoke layer in myriad possible ways that are not yet well-documented. The shortwave-warming can stabilize the free-troposphere, enhancing the low cloud fraction. The deepening boundary layer and subsiding smoke layer also increase the likelihood of aerosol-cloud microphysical interactions. Interest in this climate regime is supporting an observational strategy of a year-long DOE ARM Mobile Facility deployment to Ascension (Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds, or LASIC), and an NSF aircraft campaign (ObservatioNs of Fireʼs Impact on the southeast atlantic REgion, or ONFIRE) based on Sao Tome Island. These campaigns will be integrated with NASA, UK and African activities sharing similar goals based further south in Namibia.

Initial analysis is distinguishing meteorology from aerosol impacts on the boundary layer cloud fields. The forward trajectories of emissions from over 24,000 fire sources on continental Africa show that a free-tropospheric jet can advect aerosols to above Ascension island in just one-two days. The fast transport time encourages retention of signatures of the fire sources, in particular the radiatively-crucial single-scattering albedo value. Thereafter, a deep land-based anticyclonic high recirculates over one-third of these trajectories back to the African continent, explaining the widespread extent of the aerosol layer. The free-tropospheric jet also reduces the mean atmospheric subsidence independently of shortwave absorption by the aerosols.

Ascension Island has also experienced increasing rain this century, documented in United Kingdom meteorological measurements dating back to 1924. Preliminary analysis connects this primarily to rising sea surface temperatures. The long-term observations will be reviewed and related to larger-scale changes.