Articles | Volume 21, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16575-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16575-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
A weather regime characterisation of winter biomass aerosol transport from southern Africa
Université de Paris and Université Paris Est Creteil, CNRS,
LISA, 75013 Paris, France
Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS, Pavia, Italy
Benjamin Pohl
CRC/Biogéosciences, UMR6282 CNRS/Université de Bourgogne
Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Maria del Carmen Alvarez Castro
Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems department, University Pablo de Olavide (UPO), Seville, 41013, Spain
Mediterranean Center of Climate Change (CMCC), Climate Simulation and Prediction Division, Bologna, 40126, Italy
Cyrille Flamant
Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, UMR CNRS 8190, Sorbonne Université,
Université Versailles Saint Quentin, Paris, France
Paola Formenti
Université de Paris and Université Paris Est Creteil, CNRS,
LISA, 75013 Paris, France
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The elemental composition and solubility of several metals, including iron, at a coastal site in Namibia in August–September 2017, indicate that natural and anthropogenic dust had different solubility depending on mineralogy but mostly to the processing by fluoride ions from marine emissions, pointing out to the complexity of atmospheric/oceanic interactions in this region of the world influenced by the Benguela current and significant aerosol load.
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Traditional wine-growing regions are threatened by expected climate change. Climate models and observations are used to calculate bioclimatic indices based on both temperature and precipitation. These indices are correlated with grape productivity in two wine-growing regions in Italy. This analysis paves the way for using climate models to study how climate change will affect wine production in the future.
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Palaeoclimate reconstructions suggest that, around 6000 years ago, a greening of the Sahara took place, accompanied by climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere at middle to high latitudes. In this study, a climate model is used to investigate how this drastic environmental change in the Sahara impacted remote regions. Specifically, climate simulations reveal significant modifications in atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic, affecting North American and European climates.
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In the austral dry season, the atmospheric composition over southern Africa is dominated by biomass burning aerosols and terrigenous aerosols (so-called mineral dust). This study suggests that the radiative effect of biomass burning aerosols needs to be taken into account to properly forecast dust emissions in Namibia.
Gaëlle de Coëtlogon, Adrien Deroubaix, Cyrille Flamant, Laurent Menut, and Marco Gaetani
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15507–15521, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15507-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15507-2023, 2023
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5701–5724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5701-2022, 2022
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Rivers of smoke extend from tropical southern Africa towards the Indian Ocean during the winter fire season, controlled by the interaction of tropical easterly waves, and westerly waves at mid latitudes. During the AEROCLO-sA field campaign in 2017, a river of smoke was directly observed over Namibia. In this paper, the evolution and atmospheric drivers of the river of smoke are described, and the role of a mid-latitude cut-off low in lifting the smoke to the upper troposphere is highlighted.
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8233–8253, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8233-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8233-2021, 2021
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This work presents aerosol above-cloud properties close to the Namibian coast from a combination of airborne passive remote sensing. The complete analysis of aerosol and cloud optical properties and their microphysical and radiative properties allows us to better identify the impacts of biomass burning emissions. This work also gives a complete overview of the key parameters for constraining climate models in case aerosol and cloud coexist in the troposphere.
Laura Renzi, Claudia Di Biagio, Johannes Heuser, Marco Zanatta, Mathieu Cazaunau, Antonin Bergé, Edouard Pangui, Jérôme Yon, Tommaso Isolabella, Dario Massabò, Virginia Vernocchi, Martina Mazzini, Chenjie Yu, Paola Formenti, Benedicte Picquet-Varrault, Jean-Francois Doussin, and Angela Marinoni
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2823, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2823, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1827, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1827, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Chenjie Yu, Paola Formenti, Joel F. de Brito, Astrid Bauville, Antonin Bergé, Hichem Bouzidi, Mathieu Cazaunau, Manuela Cirtog, Claudia Di Biagio, Ludovico Di Antonio, Cécile Gaimoz, Franck Maisonneuve, Pascal Zapf, Tobias Seubert, Simone T. Andersen, Patrick Dewald, Gunther N. T. E. Türk, John N. Crowley, Alexandre Kukui, Chaoyang Xue, Cyrielle Denjean, Olivier Garrouste, Jean-Claude Etienne, Huihui Wu, James D. Allan, Dantong Liu, Yangzhou Wu, Christopher Cantrell, and Vincent Michoud
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2393, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2393, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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Simone T. Andersen, Rolf Sander, Patrick Dewald, Laura Wüst, Tobias Seubert, Gunther N. T. E. Türk, Jan Schuladen, Max R. McGillen, Chaoyang Xue, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Alexandre Kukui, Vincent Michoud, Manuela Cirtog, Mathieu Cazaunau, Astrid Bauville, Hichem Bouzidi, Paola Formenti, Cyrielle Denjean, Jean-Claude Etienne, Olivier Garrouste, Christopher Cantrell, Jos Lelieveld, and John N. Crowley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5893–5909, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5893-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5893-2025, 2025
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Ludovico Di Antonio, Matthias Beekmann, Guillaume Siour, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Astrid Bauville, Antonin Bergé, Mathieu Cazaunau, Servanne Chevaillier, Manuela Cirtog, Joel F. de Brito, Paola Formenti, Cecile Gaimoz, Olivier Garret, Aline Gratien, Valérie Gros, Martial Haeffelin, Lelia N. Hawkins, Simone Kotthaus, Gael Noyalet, Diana L. Pereira, Jean-Eudes Petit, Eva Drew Pronovost, Véronique Riffault, Chenjie Yu, Gilles Foret, Jean-François Doussin, and Claudia Di Biagio
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The summer of 2022 has been considered a proxy for future climate scenarios due to its hot and dry conditions. In this paper, we use the measurements from the Atmospheric Chemistry of the Suburban Forest (ACROSS) campaign, conducted in the Paris area in June–July 2022, along with observations from existing networks, to evaluate a 3D chemistry transport model (WRF–CHIMERE) simulation. Results are shown to be satisfactory, allowing us to explain the gas and aerosol variability at the campaign sites.
Diana L. Pereira, Chiara Giorio, Aline Gratien, Alexander Zherebker, Gael Noyalet, Servanne Chevaillier, Stéphanie Alage, Elie Almarj, Antonin Bergé, Thomas Bertin, Mathieu Cazaunau, Patrice Coll, Ludovico Di Antonio, Sergio Harb, Johannes Heuser, Cécile Gaimoz, Oscar Guillemant, Brigitte Language, Olivier Lauret, Camilo Macias, Franck Maisonneuve, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Raquel Torres, Sylvain Triquet, Pascal Zapf, Lelia Hawkins, Drew Pronovost, Sydney Riley, Pierre-Marie Flaud, Emilie Perraudin, Pauline Pouyes, Eric Villenave, Alexandre Albinet, Olivier Favez, Robin Aujay-Plouzeau, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Manuela Cirtog, Claudia Di Biagio, Jean-François Doussin, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4885–4905, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4885-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4885-2025, 2025
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In order to study aerosols in environments influenced by anthropogenic and biogenic emissions, we performed analyses of samples collected during the ACROSS (Atmospheric Chemistry Of the Suburban Forest) campaign in summer 2022 in the greater Paris area. After analysis of the chemical composition by means of total carbon determination and high-resolution mass spectrometry, this work highlights the influence of anthropogenic inputs on the chemical composition of both urban and forested areas.
Paola Formenti, Chiara Giorio, Karine Desboeufs, Alexander Zherebker, Marco Gaetani, Clarissa Baldo, Gautier Landrot, Simona Montebello, Servanne Chevaillier, Sylvain Triquet, Guillaume Siour, Claudia Di Biagio, Francesco Battaglia, Jean-François Doussin, Anais Feron, Andreas Namwoonde, and Stuart John Piketh
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-446, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-446, 2025
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The elemental composition and solubility of several metals, including iron, at a coastal site in Namibia in August–September 2017, indicate that natural and anthropogenic dust had different solubility depending on mineralogy but mostly to the processing by fluoride ions from marine emissions, pointing out to the complexity of atmospheric/oceanic interactions in this region of the world influenced by the Benguela current and significant aerosol load.
Ludovico Di Antonio, Claudia Di Biagio, Paola Formenti, Aline Gratien, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Astrid Bauville, Antonin Bergé, Mathieu Cazaunau, Servanne Chevaillier, Manuela Cirtog, Patrice Coll, Barbara D'Anna, Joel F. de Brito, David O. De Haan, Juliette R. Dignum, Shravan Deshmukh, Olivier Favez, Pierre-Marie Flaud, Cecile Gaimoz, Lelia N. Hawkins, Julien Kammer, Brigitte Language, Franck Maisonneuve, Griša Močnik, Emilie Perraudin, Jean-Eudes Petit, Prodip Acharja, Laurent Poulain, Pauline Pouyes, Eva Drew Pronovost, Véronique Riffault, Kanuri I. Roundtree, Marwa Shahin, Guillaume Siour, Eric Villenave, Pascal Zapf, Gilles Foret, Jean-François Doussin, and Matthias Beekmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3161–3189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3161-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3161-2025, 2025
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The spectral complex refractive index (CRI) and single scattering albedo were retrieved from submicron aerosol measurements at three sites within the greater Paris area during the ACROSS field campaign (June–July 2022). Measurements revealed urban emission impact on surrounding areas. CRI full period averages at 520 nm were 1.41 – 0.037i (urban), 1.52 – 0.038i (peri-urban), and 1.50 – 0.025i (rural). Organic aerosols dominated the aerosol mass and contributed up to 22 % of absorption at 370 nm.
Aurélien Royer, Julien Crétat, Rémi Laffont, Sara Gamboa, Belén Luna, Iris Menéndez, Benjamin Pohl, Sophie Montuire, and Manuel Hernandez Fernandez
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-815, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-815, 2025
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Continental scale temperature maps have been generated based on rodent associations and spatial generalized linear mixed model for six different periods (LGM, Heinrich Stadial, Bølling, Allerød, Younger Dryas and present-day conditions). We assess their reliability by comparing with General Circulation Models. The spatial patterns obtained from the rodent associations are very similar to those of the GCMs, but with slightly cooler estimations in western Europe and warmer ones in eastern Europe.
Francesco Battaglia, Paola Formenti, Chiara Giorio, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Antonin Bergé, Aline Gratien, Thomas Bertin, Joël F. de Brito, Manolis N. Romanias, Vincent Michoud, Clarissa Baldo, Servanne Chevaillier, Gaël Noyalet, Philippe Decorse, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, and Jean-François Doussin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4073, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4073, 2025
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This paper presents an experimental investigation of the interactions between glyoxal, an important volatile organic compound, and mineral dust particles of size and composition typical of natural conditions. We show that their interactions modifies in a definitive way the concentrations of the gas phase and the properties of the dust, which could have important implications of the atmospheric composition and the Earth's climate.
Chiara Giorio, Anne Monod, Valerio Di Marco, Pierre Herckes, Denise Napolitano, Amy Sullivan, Gautier Landrot, Daniel Warnes, Marika Nasti, Sara D'Aronco, Agathe Gérardin, Nicolas Brun, Karine Desboeufs, Sylvain Triquet, Servanne Chevaillier, Claudia Di Biagio, Francesco Battaglia, Frédéric Burnet, Stuart J. Piketh, Andreas Namwoonde, Jean-François Doussin, and Paola Formenti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4140, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4140, 2025
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A comparison between the solubility of trace metals in pairs of total suspended particulate (TSP) and fog water samples collected in Henties Bay, Namibia, during the AEROCLO-sA field campaign is presented. We found enhanced solubility of metals in fog samples which we attributed to metal-ligand complexes formation in the early stages of particle activation into droplets which can then remain in a kinetically stable form in fog or lead to the formation of colloidal nanoparticles.
Alexandre Mass, Hendrik Andersen, Jan Cermak, Paola Formenti, Eva Pauli, and Julian Quinting
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 491–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-491-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-491-2025, 2025
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This study investigates the interaction between smoke aerosols and fog and low clouds (FLCs) in the Namib Desert between June and October. Here, a satellite-based dataset of FLCs, reanalysis data and machine learning are used to systematically analyze FLC persistence under different aerosol loadings. Aerosol plumes are shown to modify local thermodynamics, which increase FLC persistence. But fully disentangling aerosol effects from meteorological ones remains a challenge.
Tanguy Jonville, Maurus Borne, Cyrille Flamant, Juan Cuesta, Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, Christophe Lavaysse, Andreas Fink, and Peter Knippertz
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3606, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3606, 2025
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Cedric G. Ngoungue Langue, Christophe Lavaysse, and Cyrille Flamant
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 147–168, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-147-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-147-2025, 2025
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The present study addresses the predictability of heat waves at subseasonal timescales in West African cities over the period 2001–2020. Two models, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the UK Met Office models, were evaluated using two reanalyses: ERA5 and MERRA. The results suggest that at subseasonal timescales, the forecast models provide a better forecast than climatology, but the hit rate and false alarm rate are sub-optimal.
Daniele Zannoni, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Harald Sodemann, Iris Thurnherr, Cyrille Flamant, Patrick Chazette, Julien Totems, Martin Werner, and Myriam Raybaut
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3394, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3394, 2025
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High resolution airborne observations reveal that mixing between the free troposphere and surface evapotranspiration flux primarly modulates the water vapor isotopic composition in the lower troposphere. Water vapor isotopes structure variations occur on the scale of 100s of m, underlying the utility of stable isotopes for studying microscale atmospheric dynamics. This study also provides the basis for better validation of water vapor isotopes remote sensing retrievals with surface observations.
Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Haochi Che, Caroline Dang, Junying Sun, Ye Kuang, Paola Formenti, and Steven G. Howell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13849–13864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13849-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13849-2024, 2024
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Using airborne measurements over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, we examined how much moisture aerosols take up during Africa’s biomass burning season. Our study revealed the important role of organic aerosols and introduced a predictive model for moisture uptake, accounting for organics, sulfate, and black carbon, summarizing results from various campaigns. These findings improve our understanding of aerosol–moisture interactions and their radiative effects in this climatically critical region.
Laura T. Massano, Giorgia Fosser, Marco Gaetani, and Cécile Caillaud
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4293–4315, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-4293-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-4293-2024, 2024
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Traditional wine-growing regions are threatened by expected climate change. Climate models and observations are used to calculate bioclimatic indices based on both temperature and precipitation. These indices are correlated with grape productivity in two wine-growing regions in Italy. This analysis paves the way for using climate models to study how climate change will affect wine production in the future.
Paola Formenti and Claudia Di Biagio
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4995–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4995-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4995-2024, 2024
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Particles from deserts and semi-vegetated areas (mineral dust) are important for Earth's climate and human health, notably depending on their size. In this paper we collect and make a synthesis of a body of these observations since 1972 in order to provide researchers modeling Earth's climate and developing satellite observations from space with a simple way of confronting their results and understanding their validity.
Marco Gaetani, Gabriele Messori, Francesco S. R. Pausata, Shivangi Tiwari, M. Carmen Alvarez Castro, and Qiong Zhang
Clim. Past, 20, 1735–1759, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1735-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1735-2024, 2024
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Palaeoclimate reconstructions suggest that, around 6000 years ago, a greening of the Sahara took place, accompanied by climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere at middle to high latitudes. In this study, a climate model is used to investigate how this drastic environmental change in the Sahara impacted remote regions. Specifically, climate simulations reveal significant modifications in atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic, affecting North American and European climates.
Mégane Ventura, Fabien Waquet, Isabelle Chiapello, Gérard Brogniez, Frédéric Parol, Frédérique Auriol, Rodrigue Loisil, Cyril Delegove, Luc Blarel, Oleg Dubovik, Marc Mallet, Cyrille Flamant, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-121, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Biomass burning aerosols (BBA) from Central Africa, are transported above stratocumulus clouds. The absorption of solar energy by aerosols induce warming, altering the clouds dynamics. We developed an approach that combines polarimeter and lidar to quantify it. This methodology is assessed during the AEROCLO-SA campaign. To validate it, we used flux measurements acquired during aircraft loop descents. Major perspective is the generalization of this method to the global level.
Chenjie Yu, Edouard Pangui, Kevin Tu, Mathieu Cazaunau, Maxime Feingesicht, Landsheere Xavier, Thierry Bourrianne, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Timothy B. Onasch, Andrew Freedman, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3419–3437, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3419-2024, 2024
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To meet the requirements for measuring aerosol optical properties on airborne platforms and conducting dual-wavelength measurements, we introduced A2S2, an airborne dual-wavelength cavity-attenuated phase-shift single monitor. This study reports the results in the laboratory and an aircraft campaign over Paris and its surrounding regions. The results demonstrate A2S2's reliability in measuring aerosol optical properties at both wavelengths and its suitability for future aircraft campaigns.
Vincenzo Obiso, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Jan P. Perlwitz, Gregory L. Schuster, Susanne E. Bauer, Claudia Di Biagio, Paola Formenti, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Ron L. Miller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5337–5367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5337-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5337-2024, 2024
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We calculate the dust direct radiative effect (DRE) in an Earth system model accounting for regionally varying soil mineralogy through a new observationally constrained method. Linking dust absorption at solar wavelengths to the varying amount of specific minerals (i.e., iron oxides) improves the modeled range of dust single scattering albedo compared to observations and increases the global cooling by dust. Our results may contribute to improved estimates of the dust DRE and its climate impact.
Cyrille Flamant, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Marco Gaetani, Kerstin Schepanski, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4265–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024, 2024
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In the austral dry season, the atmospheric composition over southern Africa is dominated by biomass burning aerosols and terrigenous aerosols (so-called mineral dust). This study suggests that the radiative effect of biomass burning aerosols needs to be taken into account to properly forecast dust emissions in Namibia.
Anil Kumar Mandariya, Junteng Wu, Anne Monod, Paola Formenti, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Mathieu Cazaunau, Stephan Mertes, Laurent Poulain, Antonin Berge, Edouard Pangui, Andreas Tilgner, Thomas Schaefer, Liang Wen, Hartmut Herrmann, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-206, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-206, 2024
Publication in AMT not foreseen
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An optimized and controlled protocol for generating quasi-adiabatic expansion clouds under simulated dark and light conditions was presented. The irradiated clouds clearly showed a gradual activation of seed particles into droplets. In contrast, non-irradiated clouds faced a flash activation. This paper will lay the foundation for multiphase photochemical studies implying water-soluble volatile organic compounds and particulate matter formation during cloud formation-evaporation cycles.
Claudio Stefanini, Giovanni Macelloni, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Vincent Favier, Benjamin Pohl, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 18, 593–608, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024, 2024
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Local and large-scale meteorological conditions have been considered in order to explain some peculiar changes of snow grains on the East Antarctic Plateau from 2000 to 2022, by using remote sensing observations and reanalysis. We identified some extreme grain size events on the highest ice divide, resulting from a combination of conditions of low wind speed and low temperature. Moreover, the beginning of seasonal grain growth has been linked to the occurrence of atmospheric rivers.
Karine Desboeufs, Paola Formenti, Raquel Torres-Sánchez, Kerstin Schepanski, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Hendrik Andersen, Jan Cermak, Stefanie Feuerstein, Benoit Laurent, Danitza Klopper, Andreas Namwoonde, Mathieu Cazaunau, Servanne Chevaillier, Anaïs Feron, Cécile Mirande-Bret, Sylvain Triquet, and Stuart J. Piketh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1525–1541, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1525-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1525-2024, 2024
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This study investigates the fractional solubility of iron (Fe) in dust particles along the coast of Namibia, a critical region for the atmospheric Fe supply of the South Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest a possible two-way interplay whereby marine biogenic emissions from the coastal marine ecosystems into the atmosphere would increase the solubility of Fe-bearing dust by photo-reduction processes. The subsequent deposition of soluble Fe could act to further enhance marine biogenic emissions.
Maurus Borne, Peter Knippertz, Martin Weissmann, Benjamin Witschas, Cyrille Flamant, Rosimar Rios-Berrios, and Peter Veals
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 561–581, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-561-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-561-2024, 2024
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This study assesses the quality of Aeolus wind measurements over the tropical Atlantic. The results identified the accuracy and precision of the Aeolus wind measurements and the potential source of errors. For instance, the study revealed atmospheric conditions that can deteriorate the measurement quality, such as weaker laser signal in cloudy or dusty conditions, and confirmed the presence of an orbital-dependant bias. These results can help to improve the Aeolus wind measurement algorithm.
Gaëlle de Coëtlogon, Adrien Deroubaix, Cyrille Flamant, Laurent Menut, and Marco Gaetani
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15507–15521, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15507-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15507-2023, 2023
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Using a numerical atmospheric model, we found that cooling sea surface temperatures along the southern coast of West Africa in July cause the “little dry season”. This effect reduces humidity and pollutant transport inland, potentially enhancing West Africa's synoptic and seasonal forecasting.
Leonie Villiger, Marina Dütsch, Sandrine Bony, Marie Lothon, Stephan Pfahl, Heini Wernli, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Patrick Chazette, Pierre Coutris, Julien Delanoë, Cyrille Flamant, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Martin Werner, and Franziska Aemisegger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14643–14672, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14643-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14643-2023, 2023
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This study evaluates three numerical simulations performed with an isotope-enabled weather forecast model and investigates the coupling between shallow trade-wind cumulus clouds and atmospheric circulations on different scales. We show that the simulations reproduce key characteristics of shallow trade-wind clouds as observed during the field experiment EUREC4A and that the spatial distribution of stable-water-vapour isotopes is shaped by the overturning circulation associated with these clouds.
Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Haochi Che, Caroline Dang, Junying Sun, Ye Kuang, and Paola Formenti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2319, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2319, 2023
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Our study examined the interaction between atmospheric particles and moisture over the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean during the biomass burning seasons in Africa. We found that organic components of these particles play a more important role in aerosol-moisture interactions than previously expected. This discovery is important as such interactions impact radiation and climate. Current climate models might need better representations of the moisture-absorbing properties of organic aerosols.
Ludovico Di Antonio, Claudia Di Biagio, Gilles Foret, Paola Formenti, Guillaume Siour, Jean-François Doussin, and Matthias Beekmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12455–12475, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, 2023
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Long-term (2000–2021) 1 km resolution satellite data have been used to investigate the climatological aerosol optical depth (AOD) variability and trends at different scales in Europe. Average enhancements of the local-to-regional AOD ratio at 550 nm of 57 %, 55 %, 39 % and 32 % are found for large metropolitan areas such as Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Athens, respectively, suggesting a non-negligible enhancement of the aerosol burden through local emissions.
Valerian Hahn, Ralf Meerkötter, Christiane Voigt, Sonja Gisinger, Daniel Sauer, Valéry Catoire, Volker Dreiling, Hugh Coe, Cyrille Flamant, Stefan Kaufmann, Jonas Kleine, Peter Knippertz, Manuel Moser, Philip Rosenberg, Hans Schlager, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Jonathan Taylor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8515–8530, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, 2023
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During the DACCIWA campaign in West Africa, we found a 35 % increase in the cloud droplet concentration that formed in a polluted compared with a less polluted environment and a decrease of 17 % in effective droplet diameter. Radiative transfer simulations, based on the measured cloud properties, reveal that these low-level polluted clouds radiate only 2.6 % more energy back to space, compared with a less polluted cloud. The corresponding additional decrease in temperature is rather small.
Clarissa Baldo, Paola Formenti, Claudia Di Biagio, Gongda Lu, Congbo Song, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Jean-Francois Doussin, Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova, Olafur Arnalds, David Beddows, A. Robert MacKenzie, and Zongbo Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7975–8000, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7975-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7975-2023, 2023
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This paper presents new shortwave spectral complex refractive index and single scattering albedo data for Icelandic dust. Our results show that the imaginary part of the complex refractive index of Icelandic dust is at the upper end of the range of low-latitude dust. Furthermore, we observed that Icelandic dust is more absorbing towards the near-infrared, which we attribute to its high magnetite content. These findings are important for modeling dust aerosol radiative effects in the Arctic.
Michail Mytilinaios, Sara Basart, Sergio Ciamprone, Juan Cuesta, Claudio Dema, Enza Di Tomaso, Paola Formenti, Antonis Gkikas, Oriol Jorba, Ralph Kahn, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Serena Trippetta, and Lucia Mona
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5487–5516, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, 2023
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Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) dust reanalysis provides a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of past dust conditions, allowing better quantification of climate and socioeconomic dust impacts. We assess the performance of the reanalysis needed to reproduce dust optical depth using dust-related products retrieved from satellite and ground-based observations and show that it reproduces the spatial distribution and seasonal variability of atmospheric dust well.
Cedric Gacial Ngoungue Langue, Christophe Lavaysse, Mathieu Vrac, and Cyrille Flamant
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1313–1333, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1313-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1313-2023, 2023
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Heat waves (HWs) are climatic hazards that affect the planet. We assess here uncertainties encountered in the process of HW detection and analyse their recent trends in West Africa using reanalysis data. Three types of uncertainty have been investigated. We identified 6 years with higher frequency of HWs, possibly due to higher sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Atlantic. We noticed an increase in HW characteristics during the last decade, which could be a consequence of climate change.
Michael John Weston, Stuart John Piketh, Frédéric Burnet, Stephen Broccardo, Cyrielle Denjean, Thierry Bourrianne, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10221–10245, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10221-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10221-2022, 2022
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An aerosol-aware microphysics scheme is evaluated for fog cases in Namibia. AEROCLO-sA campaign observations are used to access and parameterise the model. The model cloud condensation nuclei activation is lower than the observations. The scheme is designed for clouds with updrafts, while fog typically forms in stable conditions. A pseudo updraft speed assigned to the lowest model levels helps achieve more realistic cloud droplet number concentration and size distribution in the model.
N. Hempelmann, C. Ehbrecht, E. Plesiat, G. Hobona, J. Simoes, D. Huard, T. J. Smith, U. S. McKnight, I. G. Pechlivanidis, and C. Alvarez-Castro
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-4-W1-2022, 187–194, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W1-2022-187-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W1-2022-187-2022, 2022
Núria Pérez-Zanón, Louis-Philippe Caron, Silvia Terzago, Bert Van Schaeybroeck, Llorenç Lledó, Nicolau Manubens, Emmanuel Roulin, M. Carmen Alvarez-Castro, Lauriane Batté, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, Susana Corti, Carlos Delgado-Torres, Marta Domínguez, Federico Fabiano, Ignazio Giuntoli, Jost von Hardenberg, Eroteida Sánchez-García, Verónica Torralba, and Deborah Verfaillie
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6115–6142, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6115-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6115-2022, 2022
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CSTools (short for Climate Service Tools) is an R package that contains process-based methods for climate forecast calibration, bias correction, statistical and stochastic downscaling, optimal forecast combination, and multivariate verification, as well as basic and advanced tools to obtain tailored products. In addition to describing the structure and methods in the package, we also present three use cases to illustrate the seasonal climate forecast post-processing for specific purposes.
Caroline Dang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Haochi Che, Lu Zhang, Paola Formenti, Jonathan Taylor, Amie Dobracki, Sara Purdue, Pui-Shan Wong, Athanasios Nenes, Arthur Sedlacek III, Hugh Coe, Jens Redemann, Paquita Zuidema, Steven Howell, and James Haywood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9389–9412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9389-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9389-2022, 2022
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Transmission electron microscopy was used to analyze aged African smoke particles and how the smoke interacts with the marine atmosphere. We found that the volatility of organic aerosol increases with biomass burning plume age, that black carbon is often mixed with potassium salts and that the marine atmosphere can incorporate Na and Cl into smoke particles. Marine salts are more processed when mixed with smoke plumes, and there are interesting Cl-rich yet Na-absent marine particles.
Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Haochi Che, Caroline Dang, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Ernie R. Lewis, Amie Dobracki, Jenny P. S. Wong, Paola Formenti, Steven G. Howell, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9199–9213, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9199-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9199-2022, 2022
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Widespread biomass burning (BB) events occur annually in Africa and contribute ~ 1 / 3 of global BB emissions, which contain a large family of light-absorbing organics, known as brown carbon (BrC), whose absorption of incident radiation is difficult to estimate, leading to large uncertainties in the global radiative forcing estimation. This study quantifies the BrC absorption of aged BB particles and highlights the potential presence of absorbing iron oxides in this climatically important region.
Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Laurent Labbouz, Cyrille Flamant, and Alma Hodzic
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8639–8658, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8639-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8639-2022, 2022
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Ground-based, spaceborne and rare airborne observations of biomass burning aerosols (BBAs) during the AEROCLO-sA field campaign in 2017 are complemented with convection-permitting simulations with online trajectories. The results show that the radiative effect of the BBA accelerates the southern African easterly jet and generates upward motions that transport the BBAs to higher altitudes and farther southwest.
Enza Di Tomaso, Jerónimo Escribano, Sara Basart, Paul Ginoux, Francesca Macchia, Francesca Barnaba, Francesco Benincasa, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, Arnau Buñuel, Miguel Castrillo, Emilio Cuevas, Paola Formenti, María Gonçalves, Oriol Jorba, Martina Klose, Lucia Mona, Gilbert Montané Pinto, Michail Mytilinaios, Vincenzo Obiso, Miriam Olid, Nick Schutgens, Athanasios Votsis, Ernest Werner, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2785–2816, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2785-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2785-2022, 2022
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MONARCH reanalysis of desert dust aerosols extends the existing observation-based information for mineral dust monitoring by providing 3-hourly upper-air, surface and total column key geophysical variables of the dust cycle over Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe, at a 0.1° horizontal resolution in a rotated grid, from 2007 to 2016. This work provides evidence of the high accuracy of this data set and its suitability for air quality and health and climate service applications.
Cyrille Flamant, Marco Gaetani, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Patrick Chazette, Juan Cuesta, Stuart John Piketh, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5701–5724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5701-2022, 2022
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Rivers of smoke extend from tropical southern Africa towards the Indian Ocean during the winter fire season, controlled by the interaction of tropical easterly waves, and westerly waves at mid latitudes. During the AEROCLO-sA field campaign in 2017, a river of smoke was directly observed over Namibia. In this paper, the evolution and atmospheric drivers of the river of smoke are described, and the role of a mid-latitude cut-off low in lifting the smoke to the upper troposphere is highlighted.
Sandrine Bony, Marie Lothon, Julien Delanoë, Pierre Coutris, Jean-Claude Etienne, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Thierry André, Hubert Bellec, Alexandre Baron, Jean-François Bourdinot, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Aurélien Bourdon, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Christophe Caudoux, Patrick Chazette, Michel Cluzeau, Céline Cornet, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Dominique Duchanoy, Cyrille Flamant, Benjamin Fildier, Christophe Gourbeyre, Laurent Guiraud, Tetyana Jiang, Claude Lainard, Christophe Le Gac, Christian Lendroit, Julien Lernould, Thierry Perrin, Frédéric Pouvesle, Pascal Richard, Nicolas Rochetin, Kevin Salaün, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Guillaume Seurat, Bjorn Stevens, Julien Totems, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Gilles Vergez, Jessica Vial, Leonie Villiger, and Raphaela Vogel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2021–2064, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2021-2022, 2022
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The French ATR42 research aircraft participated in the EUREC4A international field campaign that took place in 2020 over the tropical Atlantic, east of Barbados. We present the extensive instrumentation of the aircraft, the research flights and the different measurements. We show that the ATR measurements of humidity, wind, aerosols and cloudiness in the lower atmosphere are robust and consistent with each other. They will make it possible to advance understanding of cloud–climate interactions.
Adrien Deroubaix, Laurent Menut, Cyrille Flamant, Peter Knippertz, Andreas H. Fink, Anneke Batenburg, Joel Brito, Cyrielle Denjean, Cheikh Dione, Régis Dupuy, Valerian Hahn, Norbert Kalthoff, Fabienne Lohou, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Guillaume Siour, Paolo Tuccella, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3251–3273, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3251-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3251-2022, 2022
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During the summer monsoon in West Africa, pollutants emitted in urbanized areas modify cloud cover and precipitation patterns. We analyze these patterns with the WRF-CHIMERE model, integrating the effects of aerosols on meteorology, based on the numerous observations provided by the Dynamics-Aerosol-Climate-Interactions campaign. This study adds evidence to recent findings that increased pollution levels in West Africa delay the breakup time of low-level clouds and reduce precipitation.
Patrick Chazette, Alexandre Baron, and Cyrille Flamant
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1271–1292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1271-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1271-2022, 2022
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Within the framework of the international EUREC4A project, horizontal lidar measurements were carried out over Barbados from the French research aircraft ATR-42. These measurements highlighted the strong heterogeneity of the aerosol field (mainly dust and biomass burning aerosols) and therefore of the associated optical properties. This heterogeneity varies according to meteorological conditions and could significantly modulate the climatic impact of aerosols trapped over the tropical Atlantic.
Paola Formenti, Claudia Di Biagio, Yue Huang, Jasper Kok, Marc Daniel Mallet, Damien Boulanger, and Mathieu Cazaunau
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-403, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-403, 2021
Publication in AMT not foreseen
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This paper provides with standardized correction factors for the measurements of the most common instruments used in the atmosphere to measure the concentration per size of aerosol particles. These correction factors are provided to users with supplementary information for their use.
Jonas Hamperl, Clément Capitaine, Jean-Baptiste Dherbecourt, Myriam Raybaut, Patrick Chazette, Julien Totems, Bruno Grouiez, Laurence Régalia, Rosa Santagata, Corinne Evesque, Jean-Michel Melkonian, Antoine Godard, Andrew Seidl, Harald Sodemann, and Cyrille Flamant
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6675–6693, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6675-2021, 2021
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Laser active remote sensing of tropospheric water vapor is a promising technology for enhancing our understanding of processes governing the global hydrological cycle. We investigate the potential of a ground-based lidar to monitor the main water vapor isotopes at high spatio-temporal resolutions in the lower troposphere. Using a realistic end-to-end simulator, we show that high-precision measurements can be achieved within a range of 1.5 km, in mid-latitude or tropical environments.
Cedric G. Ngoungue Langue, Christophe Lavaysse, Mathieu Vrac, Philippe Peyrillé, and Cyrille Flamant
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 893–912, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-893-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-893-2021, 2021
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This work assesses the forecast of the temperature over the Sahara, a key driver of the West African Monsoon, at a seasonal timescale. The seasonal models are able to reproduce the climatological state and some characteristics of the temperature during the rainy season in the Sahel. But, because of errors in the timing, the forecast skill scores are significant only for the first 4 weeks.
Isabelle Chiapello, Paola Formenti, Lydie Mbemba Kabuiku, Fabrice Ducos, Didier Tanré, and François Dulac
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12715–12737, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12715-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12715-2021, 2021
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The Mediterranean atmosphere is impacted by a variety of particle pollution, which exerts a complex pressure on climate and air quality. We analyze the 2005–2013 POLDER-3 satellite advanced aerosol data set over the Western Mediterranean Sea. Aerosols' spatial distribution and temporal evolution suggests a large-scale improvement of air quality related to the fine aerosol component, most probably resulting from reduction of anthropogenic particle emissions in the surrounding European countries.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
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The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Danitza Klopper, Stuart J. Piketh, Roelof Burger, Simon Dirkse, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-668, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The western coast of southern Africa is a key region of the Earth, with persistent clouds and particles also transported from distant forest fires. The atmosphere is stratified as a result of the different temperatures of the cold Atlantic ocean and the warm semi-arid land, and that affects how the particles will be distributed whilst in the atmosphere and how long they will persist. We used long term satellite and in situ observations to describe, for the first time, those main features.
Patrick Chazette, Cyrille Flamant, Harald Sodemann, Julien Totems, Anne Monod, Elsa Dieudonné, Alexandre Baron, Andrew Seidl, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Pascal Doira, Amandine Durand, and Sylvain Ravier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10911–10937, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10911-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10911-2021, 2021
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To gain understanding on the vertical structure of atmospheric water vapour above mountain lakes and to assess its link to the isotopic composition of the lake water and small-scale dynamics, the L-WAIVE field campaign was conducted in the Annecy valley in the French Alps in June 2019. Based on a synergy between ground-based, boat-borne, and airborne measuring platforms, significant gradients of isotopic content have been revealed at the transitions to the lake and to the free troposphere.
Aurélien Chauvigné, Fabien Waquet, Frédérique Auriol, Luc Blarel, Cyril Delegove, Oleg Dubovik, Cyrille Flamant, Marco Gaetani, Philippe Goloub, Rodrigue Loisil, Marc Mallet, Jean-Marc Nicolas, Frédéric Parol, Fanny Peers, Benjamin Torres, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8233–8253, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8233-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8233-2021, 2021
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This work presents aerosol above-cloud properties close to the Namibian coast from a combination of airborne passive remote sensing. The complete analysis of aerosol and cloud optical properties and their microphysical and radiative properties allows us to better identify the impacts of biomass burning emissions. This work also gives a complete overview of the key parameters for constraining climate models in case aerosol and cloud coexist in the troposphere.
Olivier Bock, Pierre Bosser, Cyrille Flamant, Erik Doerflinger, Friedhelm Jansen, Romain Fages, Sandrine Bony, and Sabrina Schnitt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2407–2436, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2407-2021, 2021
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Measurements from a network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers operated from the eastern Caribbean islands are used to monitor the total water vapour content in the atmosphere during the EUREC4A field campaign. These data help describe the moisture environment of mesoscale cloud patterns in the trade winds with high temporal sampling. They are also useful to assess the accuracy of collocated radiosonde measurements and numerical weather model reanalyses.
Pierre Bosser, Olivier Bock, Cyrille Flamant, Sandrine Bony, and Sabrina Speich
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1499–1517, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1499-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1499-2021, 2021
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In the framework of the EUREC4A campaign, water vapour measurements were retrieved over the tropical west Atlantic Ocean from GNSS data acquired from three research vessels (R/Vs Atalante, Maria S. Merian and Meteor). The retrievals from R/Vs Atalante and Meteor are shown to be of high quality unlike the results for the R/V Maria S. Merian. These ship-borne retrievals are intended to be used for the description and understanding of meteorological phenomena that occurred during the campaign.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
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Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Jim M. Haywood, Steven J. Abel, Paul A. Barrett, Nicolas Bellouin, Alan Blyth, Keith N. Bower, Melissa Brooks, Ken Carslaw, Haochi Che, Hugh Coe, Michael I. Cotterell, Ian Crawford, Zhiqiang Cui, Nicholas Davies, Beth Dingley, Paul Field, Paola Formenti, Hamish Gordon, Martin de Graaf, Ross Herbert, Ben Johnson, Anthony C. Jones, Justin M. Langridge, Florent Malavelle, Daniel G. Partridge, Fanny Peers, Jens Redemann, Philip Stier, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1049–1084, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, 2021
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Every year, the seasonal cycle of biomass burning from agricultural practices in Africa creates a huge plume of smoke that travels many thousands of kilometres over the Atlantic Ocean. This study provides an overview of a measurement campaign called the cloud–aerosol–radiation interaction and forcing for year 2017 (CLARIFY-2017) and documents the rationale, deployment strategy, observations, and key results from the campaign which utilized the heavily equipped FAAM atmospheric research aircraft.
Danitza Klopper, Paola Formenti, Andreas Namwoonde, Mathieu Cazaunau, Servanne Chevaillier, Anaïs Feron, Cécile Gaimoz, Patrick Hease, Fadi Lahmidi, Cécile Mirande-Bret, Sylvain Triquet, Zirui Zeng, and Stuart J. Piketh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15811–15833, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15811-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15811-2020, 2020
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The chemical composition of aerosol particles is very important as it determines to which extent they can affect the Earth's climate by acting with solar light and modifying the properties of clouds. The South Atlantic region is a remote and under-explored region to date where these effects could be important. The measurements presented in this paper consist in the analysis of samples collected at a coastal site in Namibia. The first long-term source apportionment is presented and discussed.
Patrick Chazette, Julien Totems, Alexandre Baron, Cyrille Flamant, and Sandrine Bony
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2919–2936, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2919-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2919-2020, 2020
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To characterize the trade-wind cumuli for climate change purposes, 20 ATR-42 flights were conducted over the tropical Atlantic, off the coast of Barbados from 23 January to 13 February 2020. These flights were conducted as part of the international EUREC4A (Elucidating the role of cloud–circulation coupling in climate) field campaign. A new sampling approach was applied, consisting in using a sidewards-staring lidar. The data are now made available to the international scientific community.
Clarissa Baldo, Paola Formenti, Sophie Nowak, Servanne Chevaillier, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Claudia Di Biagio, Jean-Francois Doussin, Konstantin Ignatyev, Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova, Olafur Arnalds, A. Robert MacKenzie, and Zongbo Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13521–13539, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13521-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13521-2020, 2020
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We showed that Icelandic dust has a fundamentally different chemical and mineralogical composition from low-latitude dust. In particular, magnetite is as high as 1 %–2 % of the total dust mass. Our results suggest that Icelandic dust may have an important impact on the radiation balance in the subpolar and polar regions.
Marc Mallet, Fabien Solmon, Pierre Nabat, Nellie Elguindi, Fabien Waquet, Dominique Bouniol, Andrew Mark Sayer, Kerry Meyer, Romain Roehrig, Martine Michou, Paquita Zuidema, Cyrille Flamant, Jens Redemann, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13191–13216, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, 2020
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This paper presents numerical simulations using two regional climate models to study the impact of biomass fire plumes from central Africa on the radiative balance of this region. The results indicate that biomass fires can either warm the regional climate when they are located above low clouds or cool it when they are located above land. They can also alter sea and land surface temperatures by decreasing solar radiation at the surface. Finally, they can also modify the atmospheric dynamics.
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Short summary
During the dry austral winter, biomass fires in tropical Africa emit large amounts of smoke in the atmosphere, with large impacts on climate and air quality. The study of the relationship between atmospheric circulation and smoke transport shows that midlatitude atmospheric disturbances may deflect the smoke from tropical Africa towards southern Africa. Understanding the distribution of the smoke in the region is crucial for climate modelling and air quality monitoring.
During the dry austral winter, biomass fires in tropical Africa emit large amounts of smoke in...
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