Miércoles 20 de agosto / 17:00 hrs. Salar de Seminario. Quinto Piso, Departamento de Geofísica. FCFM.
«Aerosol Optical Properties Characterization over South America» dictada por la Profesora Marcia Akemi
Associate Professor at the Atmospheric Sciences Department, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, University of São Paulo.
Aerosol particles can change the radiation budget through direct and indirect effects. The direct effect is due to their ability to scatter and absorb solar radiation. Indirectly, they can act as CCN and change cloud microphysical and optical properties. In South America, the main aerosol sources are vegetation fires, vehicular and urban emissions, from anthropogenic origins, with contributions from soil dust and sea salt of natural origin. Results of field experiments conducted in the Amazon Basin during the dry season and at São Paulo Metropolitan Region will be presented. Comparison of aerosol optical depth from AERONET sites with MODIS retrievals will also be discussed. The main conclusions from these studies are that biomass burning is still an important aerosol source over South America decreasing global solar radiation reaching the surface and enhancing the diffuse component. Those aerosol plumes can be transported to long distance and can impact the continent regionally. Finally, there is a need to increase the number of ground-based monitoring stations of aerosol optical properties in order to improve the retrievals of satellite remote sensing products.