Detection of aerosols in Antarctica from long-range transport of the 2009 australian wildfires

International audience We analyze the long‐range transport to high latitudes of a smoke particle filament originating from the extra‐tropics plume after the Australian wildfires colloquially known as ‘Black Saturday’ on February 7th 2009 and report the first Antarctic stratospheric lidar characteriz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Main Authors: Jumelet, Julien, Klekociuk, A. R., S. P., Alexander, Bekki, Slimane, Hauchecorne, Alain, Vernier, Jean-Paul, Fromm, M., Keckhut, Philippe
Other Authors: STRATO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy, NASA Langley Research Center Hampton (LaRC), Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2020
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Online Access:https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02967511
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02967511/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02967511/file/Jumelet-et-al-Antarctic%20Plume%20Paper%20-%20Revised.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032542
Description
Summary:International audience We analyze the long‐range transport to high latitudes of a smoke particle filament originating from the extra‐tropics plume after the Australian wildfires colloquially known as ‘Black Saturday’ on February 7th 2009 and report the first Antarctic stratospheric lidar characterization of such aerosols. Using a high‐resolution transport/microphysical model, we show that the monitoring cloud/aerosol lidar instrument operating at the French Antarctic station Dumont d’Urville (DDU‐66°S‐140°E) recorded a signature of those aerosols. The 532 nm scattering ratio of this filament is comparable to typical moderate stratospheric volcanic plume, with values between 1.4 and 1.6 on the 1st and 3rd days of March above DDU station at around the 14 and 16 km altitude respectively.A dedicated model is described and its ability to track down fine optical signatures is validated against Antarctic lidar elastic aerosol and DIAL ozone measurements. Using one month of tropical CALIOP data to support a relatively simple microphysical scheme, we report modeled aerosol presence above DDU station after advection of the aerosol size distribution. In situ measurements also report associated positive ozone anomaly.This case study provides evidence that biomass burning events injecting significant amounts of material up to stratospheric altitudes can be transported towards high latitudes. We highlight a potential imprint of smoke particles on the Antarctic atmosphere over larger time scales. Any underestimation of the global impact of such deep particle transport will lead to uncertainties in modeling the associated chemical or radiative effects, especially in polar regions where specific microphysical and chemical processes take place.