Biomass burning aerosol as a modulator of the droplet number in the southeast Atlantic region

• Published in: Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2020-03, Vol.20 (5), p.3029-3040
• Main Authors: Kacarab, Mary, Thornhill, K. Lee, Dobracki, Amie, Howell, Steven G, O'Brien, Joseph R, Freitag, Steffen, Poellot, Michael R, Wood, Robert, Zuidema, Paquita, Redemann, Jens, Nenes, Athanasios
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosol concentrations; Aerosol size distribution; Aerosol-cloud interactions; Aerosols; Aircraft; Altitude; Biomass; Biomass burning; Boundary layers; Burning; Cloud condensation nuclei; Cloud droplets; Clouds; Clouds (Meteorology); Condensation nuclei; Decks; Deployment; Droplets; Hygroscopicity; Parameter sensitivity; Parameterization; Plumes; Pollution; Remote sensing; Sensitivity; Size distribution; Supersaturation; Time; Updraft; Velocity; Vertical distribution; Vertical velocities
• ISSN: 1680-7324; 1680-7316; 1680-7324
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020

The southeastern Atlantic (SEA) and its associated cloud deck, off the west coast of central Africa, is an area where aerosol–cloud interactions can have a strong radiative impact. Seasonally, extensive biomass burning (BB) aerosol plumes from southern Africa reach this area. The NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) study focused on quantitatively understanding these interactions and their importance. Here we present measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration, aerosol size distribution, and characteristic vertical updraft velocity (w∗) in and around the marine boundary layer (MBL) collected by the NASA P-3B aircraft during the August 2017 ORACLES deployment. BB aerosol levels vary considerably but systematically with time; high aerosol concentrations were observed in the MBL (800–1000 cm−3) early on, decreasing midcampaign to concentrations between 500 and 800 cm−3. By late August and early September, relatively clean MBL conditions were sampled (