Balloons Hunt For Air Particles to Study Cloud Formation in the Amazon Region
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Below is an article published today (11/05) in the english website of Agência FAPESP noting that hunting Balloons for air particles are studying the formation of clouds in the Amazon Region.
Duda
Falcão
NEWS
Balloons Hunt For Air Particles
to Study Cloud Formation
By Heitor Shimizu,
in Washington, DC
November 05, 2014
(Photo: Marcelo Chamecki)
Brazilian and U.S. researchers are investigating
aerosols
and regions with and without pollution in the
Amazon to understand their
influence on cloud formation.
|
Agência
FAPESP – An
international research project investigating the aerosols that result from
hydrocarbon emissions and their influence on the formation of clouds and rain
in the Amazon was presented by its coordinators at the symposium FAPESP-U.S. Collaborative Research on the
Amazon, held
October 28-29, 2014 in Washington, DC.
The
project is part of the scientific initiative known as Green Ocean Amazon
(GOAmazon), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program conducted in partnership
with FAPESP and the Amazonas Research Foundation (FAPEAM).
In a
project called Goble (forGOAmazon Boundary Layer Experiment), researchers are
studying secondary aerosols in pristine and polluted environments as well as in
the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) of the Amazon region.
Aerosols
are particulate matter found in the atmosphere that can become primary sources
– be they natural, such as dust from deserts or volcanic eruptions, or
anthropogenic, derived from fires or fossil fuels – or secondary sources,
resulting from the condensation of gaseous products such as sulfate, nitrate or
organic aerosols.
The
project – coordinated by Celso von Randow from the National Institute for Space
Research (INPE) and Marcelo Chamecki, professor at Pennsylvania State
University – seeks to study the lifecycle of secondary aerosols, and has been
conducted in two regions of the Central Amazon: one with pristine air and
primitive forest landscape, and the other near the city of Manaus, which is
greatly influenced by a pollution plume. The research is part of the FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate
Change.
The
researchers are using flux towers and balloons to measure the vertical
distribution of aerosols and cloud condensation nuclei in the ABL. One goal of
the project is to better understand how the forest land cover influences cloud
formation, with emphasis on how boundary-layer air is injected into the cloud
layers, and how these processes are altered by the influence of the pollutant
outflow from a city like Manaus.
“In
addition to the flux towers, we are also using tethered balloons, which offer
an interesting perspective to the project because they allow us to bridge the
gap between surface measurements conducted in the towers and those obtained by
the balloons,” Randow said.
“We are
investigating the entire ABL aerosol profile and working with a computer model
to analyze the turbulent transport of these elements through the cloud layers,”
he said.
The
researchers have conducted balloon measurements in the GOAmazon area known as
T1, which is primitive forest. The balloon can reach altitudes of 1,800 meters.
Soon a second unit will be acquired for measurements at another site. They have
also used other instruments – such as sonic anemometers for measuring
turbulence – and combined measurements collected by other projects to obtain
more complete results.
“Much of
this effort is made to understand the forest turbulence structure, which is how
the forest really influences the flow of air over and through the tree canopy.
Because we wanted to better understand the atmospheric chemistry and the formation
of aerosols, we have conducted a lot of measurements. We installed sensors for
ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons and we have also
measured aerosols and how these particles become cloud condensation nuclei,”
Randow said.
“Using
the balloon, we also assessed the thermodynamic conditions in the atmospheric
boundary layer. The results of all these measurements are then combined with
high-resolution computer simulations to allow us to study the complete cycle of
gases and particles in the ABL, from emission to transport to the cloud layer,”
he said.
Randow
pointed out that another important outcome of the Goble project has been the
training of personnel since more than 20 students have been involved. The
results of the project will also be used in the Brazilian Climate Model that is
being developed by the Brazilian scientific community.
Read
more at:
Source: English WebSite of the Agência FAPESP
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