Total sugars in atmospheric aerosols: an alternative tracer for biomass burning

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Lidar observation campaign of sugar cane fires and industrial emissions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil has an important role in the biomass burning, with the detection of approximately 100,000 burning spots in a single year (2007). Most of these spots occur in the southern part of the Amazon basin during the dry season (from August to november) and these emissions reach the southeast of the country, a highly populated region and with serious urban air pollution problems. With the growing demand on biofuels, sugarcane is considerably expanding in the state of São Paulo, being a strong contributor to the bad air quality in this region. In the state of São Paulo, the main land use are pasture and sugarcane crop, that covers around 50% and 10% of the total area, respectively. Despite the aerosol from sugarcane burning having reduced atmospheric residence time, from a few days to some weeks, they might get together with those aerosol which spread over long distances (hundreds to thousands of kilometers). In the period of June through February 2010 a LIDAR observation campaign was carried in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in order to observe and characterize optically the aerosols from two distinct sources, namely, sugar cane biomass burning and industrial emissions. For this purpose 2 LIDAR systems were available, one mobile and the other placed in a laboratory, both working in the visible (532 nm) and additionally the mobile system had a Raman channel available (607 nm). Also this campaign counted with a SODAR, a meteorological RADAR specially set up to detect aerosol echoes and gas-particle analyzers. To guarantee a good regional coverage 4 distinct sites were available to deploy the instruments, 2 in the near field of biomass burning activities (Rio Claro and Bauru), one for industrial emissions (Cubatão) and others from urban sources (São Paulo). The whole campaign provide the equivalent of 30 days of measurements which allowed us to get aerosol optical properties such as backscattering/extinction coefficients, scatter and LIDAR ratios, those were used to correlate with air quality and meteorological indicators and quantities. In this paper we should focus on the preliminary results of the Raman LIDAR system and its derived aerosol optical quantities. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.

Initial analysis from a Lidar observation campaign of sugar cane fires in the central and western portion of the S̃ao Paulo State - Brazil

The central and western portion of the S̃ao Paulo State has large areas of sugar cane plantations, and due to the growing demand for biofuels, the production is increasing every year. During the harvest period some plantation areas are burnt a few hours before the manual cutting, causing significant quantities of biomass burning aerosol to be injected into the atmosphere. During August 2010, a field campaign has been carried out in Ourinhos, situated in the south-western region of S̃ao Paulo State. A 2-channel Raman Lidar system and two meteorological S-Band Doppler Radars are used to indentify and quantify the biomass burning plumes. In addiction, CALIPSO Satellite observations were used to compare the aerosol optical properties detected in that region with those retrieved by Raman Lidar system. Although the campaign yielded 30 days of measurements, this paper will be focusing only one case study, when aerosols released from nearby sugar cane fires were detected by the Lidar system during a CALIPSO overpass. The meteorological radar, installed in Bauru, approximately 110 km northeast from the experimental site, had recorded echoes (dense smoke comprising aerosols) from several fires occurring close to the Raman Lidar system, which also detected an intense load of aerosol in the atmosphere. HYSPLIT model forward trajectories presented a strong indication that both instruments have measured the same air masss parcels, corroborated with the Lidar Ratio values from the 532 nm elastic and 607 nm Raman N2 channel analyses and data retrieved from CALIPSO have indicated the predominance of aerosol from biomass burning sources. © 2011 SPIE.

Carbono orgânico solúvel em água no material particulado de regiões canavieiras do Estado de São Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Influence of Sources and Meteorology on Surface Concentrations of Gases and Aerosols in a Coastal Industrial Complex

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Use of levoglucosan, potassium, and water-soluble organic carbon to characterize the origins of biomass-burning aerosols

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)