Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3967-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-22-3967-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Mar 2022
Research article |
| 28 Mar 2022
| 28 Mar 2022
Five-satellite-sensor study of the rapid decline of wildfire smoke in the stratosphere
Bengt G. Martinsson
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Johan Friberg
Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Oscar S. Sandvik
Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Moa K. Sporre
Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Highly variable stratospheric aerosol bears great importance for Earth's climate. The 1-year average aerosol load from the 2022 volcanic eruption in Hunga Tonga is the highest since the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The usual volcanic aerosol precursor gas (SO2) mass was not sufficient to explain the aerosol load. Intense volcanism–sea interaction amplified the eruption, and sea salt emission forms a plausible explanation for the high aerosol loading.
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We study the short- and long-term stratospheric impact of smoke from the massive Australian wildfires in Dec 2019–Jan 2020 using four satellite sensors. Smoke entered the stratosphere rapidly via transport by firestorms, as well as weeks after the fires. The smoke particle properties evolved over time together with rapidly decreasing stratospheric aerosol load, suggesting photolytic loss of organics in the smoke particles. The depletion rate was estimated to a half-life (e folding) of 10 (14) d.
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A method to form SO2 profiles in the stratosphere with high vertical resolution following volcanic eruptions is introduced. The method combines space-based high-resolution vertical aerosol profiles and SO2 measurements the first 2 weeks after an eruption with air mass trajectory analyses. The SO2 is located at higher altitude than in most previous studies. The detailed resolution of the SO2 profile is unprecedented compared to other methods.
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Highly variable stratospheric aerosol bears great importance for Earth's climate. The 1-year average aerosol load from the 2022 volcanic eruption in Hunga Tonga is the highest since the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The usual volcanic aerosol precursor gas (SO2) mass was not sufficient to explain the aerosol load. Intense volcanism–sea interaction amplified the eruption, and sea salt emission forms a plausible explanation for the high aerosol loading.
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A method to form SO2 profiles in the stratosphere with high vertical resolution following volcanic eruptions is introduced. The method combines space-based high-resolution vertical aerosol profiles and SO2 measurements the first 2 weeks after an eruption with air mass trajectory analyses. The SO2 is located at higher altitude than in most previous studies. The detailed resolution of the SO2 profile is unprecedented compared to other methods.
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Short summary
Large amounts of wildfire smoke reached the stratosphere in 2017. The literature on stratospheric aerosol is mainly based on horizontally viewing sensors that saturate in dense smoke. Using also a vertically viewing sensor with orders of magnitude shorter path in the smoke, we show that the horizontally viewing sensors miss a dramatic exponential decline of the aerosol load with a half-life of 10 d, where 80 %–90 % of smoke is lost. We attribute the decline to photolytic loss of organic aerosol.
Large amounts of wildfire smoke reached the stratosphere in 2017. The literature on...
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