Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1685-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1685-2019
Research article
 | 
08 Feb 2019
Research article |  | 08 Feb 2019

Biomass-burning smoke heights over the Amazon observed from space

Laura Gonzalez-Alonso, Maria Val Martin, and Ralph A. Kahn

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Cited articles

Alencar, A., Nepstad, D., and Diaz, M. C. V.: Forest understory fire in the Brazilian Amazon in ENSO and non-ENSO years: area burned and committed carbon emissions, Earth Interact., 10, 1–17, 2006. a
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Amiridis, V., Giannakaki, E., Balis, D. S., Gerasopoulos, E., Pytharoulis, I., Zanis, P., Kazadzis, S., Melas, D., and Zerefos, C.: Smoke injection heights from agricultural burning in Eastern Europe as seen by CALIPSO, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 11567–11576, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-11567-2010, 2010. a, b, c, d, e
Andreae, M. O., Artaxo, P., Beck, V., Bela, M., Freitas, S., Gerbig, C., Longo, K., Munger, J. W., Wiedemann, K. T., and Wofsy, S. C.: Carbon monoxide and related trace gases and aerosols over the Amazon Basin during the wet and dry seasons, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 6041–6065, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-6041-2012, 2012. a
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The vertical distribution of fire smoke and factors that control its rise had not yet been quantified across the Amazon. We developed a satellite-based long record of smoke plume heights. We find that smoke heights are driven by many factors: vegetation, seasonality, time of day, fire intensity, and atmospheric and drought conditions. Also, drought increases fire pollution, with implications for air quality. Policies to control fires may be crucial in the future as more droughts are projected.
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