Articles | Volume 20, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020
Research article
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27 Feb 2020
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 27 Feb 2020

Ultra-clean and smoky marine boundary layers frequently occur in the same season over the southeast Atlantic

Sam Pennypacker, Michael Diamond, and Robert Wood

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Cited articles

Abel, S. J., Boutle, I. A., Waite, K., Fox, S., Brown, P. R. A., Lloyd, G., and Choularton, T. W.: The role of precipitation in controlling the transition from stratocumulus to cumulus clouds in a northern hemisphere cold-air outbreak, J. Atmos. Sci., 74, 2293–2314, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0362.1, 2017. 
Abel, S. J., Barrett, P. A., Zuidema, P., Zhang, J., Christensen, M., Peers, F., Taylor, J. W., Crawford, I., Bower, K. N., and Flynn, M.: Open cells can decrease the mixing of free-tropospheric biomass burning aerosol into the south-east Atlantic boundary layer, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-738, in review, 2019. 
Adebiyi, A. A. and Zuidema, P.: The role of the southern African easterly jet in modifying the southeast Atlantic aerosol and cloud environments, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 142, 1574–1589, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2765, 2016. 
Adebiyi, A. A., Zuidema, P., and Abel, S. J.: The convolution of dynamics and moisture with the presence of shortwave absorbing aerosols over the southeast Atlantic, J. Climate, 28, 1997–2024, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00352.1, 2015. 
Allen, G., Vaughan, G., Bower, K. N., Williams, P. I., Crosier, J., Flynn, M., Connolly, P., Hamilton, J. F., Lee, J. D., Saxton, J. E., Watson, N. M., Gallagher, M., Coe, H., Allan, J., Choularton, T. W., and Lewis, A. C.: Aerosol and trace-gas measurements in the Darwin area during the wet season, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008706, 2008. 
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Using observations from instruments deployed to a small island in the southeast Atlantic, we study days when the atmospheric concentrations of particles near the surface are exceptionally low. Interestingly, these ultra-clean boundary layers occur in the same months as the smokiest boundary layers associated with biomass burning in Africa. We find evidence that enhancements in drizzle scavenging, on top of a seasonal maximum in cloudiness and precipitation, likely drive these conditions.
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