The South American Tropopause Aerosol Layer (SATAL)
Loading...
Collections
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2023-12-04
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Bresciani, Caroline, Dirceu Luis Herdies, Silvio Nilo Figueroa, Virginie Buchard, Arlindo M. da Silva, Charles Jones, and Leila M. V. Carvalho. “The South American Tropopause Aerosol Layer (SATAL).” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 1, no. aop (December 4, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0074.1.
Rights
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain
Public Domain
Subjects
Abstract
The presence of an aerosol layer in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) in South America was identified with the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Application Aerosol Reanalysis Version 2 (MERRA-2). This layer, which we shall refer to as the South American Tropopause Aerosol Layer (SATAL) was identified over the Amazon Basin at altitudes between 11-14 km. It exhibits a seasonal behavior similar to the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) and the North American Tropopause Aerosol Layer (NATAL). The SATAL is observed from October to March, coinciding with the presence of the South American monsoon. It forms first in the eastern Amazon Basin in October, then moves to the Southern Amazon, where it weakens in December-January and finally dissipates in February-March. We hypothesize that two main factors influence the SATAL formation in the UT/LS: 1) the source of aerosols from Africa; 2) the updraft mass flux from deep convective systems during the active phase of the South American Monsoon System that transports aerosols to the UT/LS. Further satellite observations of aerosols and field campaigns are needed to provide useful information to find the origin and composition of the aerosols in the UT/LS during the South American Monsoon.