Biomass burning smoke transport and radiative impact over the city of São Paulo: an extreme event case study

Rosas Santana, Jorge; Lima da Silva, Gabriela; Akemi Yamasoe, Marcia; Èvora do Rosario, Nilton

doi:10.5194/acp-25-15935-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15935-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15935-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 22

Research article

|

18 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 18 Nov 2025

Biomass burning smoke transport and radiative impact over the city of São Paulo: an extreme event case study

Jorge Rosas Santana, Gabriela Lima da Silva, Marcia Akemi Yamasoe, and Nilton Èvora do Rosario

Data sets

MOD14 MODIS/Terra Thermal Anomalies/Fire 5-Min L2 Swath 1km V006 Louis Giglio and Christopher Justice https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD14.006

MYD14 MODIS/Aqua Thermal Anomalies/Fire 5-Min L2 Swath 1km V006 Louis Giglio and Christopher Justice https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD14.006

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_aer_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/KLICLTZ8EM9D

NOAA GOES-R Series Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Level 2 Cloud and Moisture Imagery Products (CMIP) GOES-R Algorithm Working Group and GOES-R Series Program https://doi.org/10.7289/V5736P36

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

MOD04_3K - MODIS/Terra Aerosol 5-Min L2 Swath 3km Rob Levy et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD04_3K.061

ODIS Atmosphere L2 Aerosol Product, NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System Rob Levy et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD04_3K.061

CERES Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) TOA/Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Aqua-FM3 Edition4A NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA/CERES/SSF_Terra-FM1_L2.004A

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Vertical Feature Mask (VFM), V4-20 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L2_VFM-STANDARD-V4-20

CALIPSO Lidar Level 1B profile data, V4-51 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/CAL_LID_L1-Standard-V4-51

Short summary

This study examines a rare event in São Paulo, Brazil, where wildfire smoke from South America mixed with clouds, causing midday darkness on 19 August 2019. Satellite data, surface measurements and air mass modeling tracked the smoke from fires in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, transported to São Paulo within 2 d. The smoke–cloud interaction reduced surface irradiance to zero for 40 min and increased radiative efficiency by 7 %, highlighting impacts on air quality and radiation budget.