Subseasonal and spatial variability of biomass burning aerosol radiative properties observed over the Southeast Atlantic during ORACLES 2016–2018

Mitchell, Logan T.; Flynn, Connor J.; Pistone, Kristina; LeBlanc, Samuel E.; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Chen, Hong; Zuidema, Paquita; Wood, Robert; Redemann, Jens

doi:10.5194/acp-26-13083-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13083-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13083-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 18

Research article

|

17 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 17 Sep 2026

Subseasonal and spatial variability of biomass burning aerosol radiative properties observed over the Southeast Atlantic during ORACLES 2016–2018

Logan T. Mitchell, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Samuel E. LeBlanc, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13083-2026-supplement

Data sets

ORACLES Aerosol Aircraft In Situ Data NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/ORACLES_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_Data_1

AERONET NASA GSFC https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/

MERRA-2 tavgM_2d_aer_Nx, 2d, Monthly mean, Time-averaged, Single-Level, Assimilation, Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/FH9A0MLJPC7N

VIIRS (NOAA-21/JPSS-2) I Band 375 m Active Fire Product NRT (Vector data) NASA MODIS Science Data Support Team https://doi.org/10.5067/FIRMS/MODIS/MCD14DL.NRT.0061

HYSPLIT transport model and READY website NOAA Air Resources Laboratory https://www.ready.noaa.gov/

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Short summary

During 2016–2018, NASA conducted an airborne field campaign over the Southeast Atlantic Ocean to study biomass burning aerosols emitted from Southern African fires. We have found that aerosol absorption decreases over the course of the emission season, which is due to a compositional change within black carbon as the source fires shift southeastward, rather than an increase in brown carbon. This aerosol brightening is also noted within a 30-year aerosol climatology from ground-based stations.