Melina
Andrade
Paixão, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, melina@if.usp.br
(Presenting)
Paulo
Artaxo, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, artaxo@if.usp.br
Brent
Holben, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, brent@aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov
Joel
Schafer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, joel.schafer@gsfc.nasa.gov
Aerosol particles in the Amazon Basin have an important role in the regional radiation budget and climate, in the cloud formation process and precipitation, in the carbon cycle and many others dynamics processes in the atmosphere. They interact with solar radiation and are responsible for its attenuation, scattering and absorption. The purpose of this work was to study aerosol optical properties from Amazonia, by means of comparison between measurements of wet and dry seasons. The sites involved were: Balbina (Manaus), Belterra (Santarém), Rio Branco, Ji Paraná (Rondônia) and Alta Floresta (Mato Grosso). Measurements obtained by AERONET – Aerosol Robotic Network, an internationally, federated, globally distributed network of sunphotometers maintained by NASA – were analyzed for all the sites mentioned. We studied, in 2002 because the SMOCC – Smoke Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate –, aerosol optical thickness (AOT), single scattering albedo (SSA) and Angstrom coefficient. We compare results from the biomass burning season (August to November) with wet season (March and April). In Abracos Hill, 60km away from Ji Paraná, in the wet season, AOT was about 0.15 but in biomass burning season the AOT reached a very high value of 3.6. On the other hand, single scattering albedo was about 0.90 in the wet season and 0.94 biomass burning season, showing possible similarities of the aerosol optical properties on this two periods.