Impact of smoke and non-smoke aerosols on radiation  and low-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic  from co-located satellite observations

Baró Pérez, Alejandro; Devasthale, Abhay; Bender, Frida A.-M.; Ekman, Annica M. L.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6053-2021

Articles | Volume 21, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6053-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6053-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 8

Research article

|

22 Apr 2021

Research article |

| 22 Apr 2021

Impact of smoke and non-smoke aerosols on radiation and low-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic from co-located satellite observations

Alejandro Baró Pérez, Abhay Devasthale, Frida A.-M. Bender, and Annica M. L. Ekman

Data sets

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 5 km Merged Layer, V4-20 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L2_05KMMLAY-STANDARD-V4-20

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1979 to present H. Hersbach, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, G. Biavati, A. Horányi, J. Muñoz Sabater, J. Nicolas, C. Peubey, R. Radu, I. Rozum, D. Schepers, A. Simmons, C. Soci, D. Dee, and J.-N. Thépaut https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

Short summary

We study the impacts of above-cloud biomass burning plumes on radiation and clouds over the southeast Atlantic using data derived from satellite observations and data-constrained model simulations. A substantial amount of the aerosol within the plumes is not classified as smoke by the satellite. The atmosphere warms more with increasing smoke aerosol loading. No clear influence of aerosol type, loading, or moisture within the overlying aerosol plumes is detected on the cloud top cooling rates.