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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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21 records · Page 2
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DOE OSTI2026

Weak, shallow, dry convection over Angola increases offshore stratocumulus cloud droplet number concentrations

Boundary-layer cloud interactions involving shortwave-absorbing aerosols remain one of the least understood aerosol influences on climate. Here, we find the highest stratocumulus cloud droplet number concentrations over the southeast Atlantic occur when agricultural fires coincide with synoptically-weakened surface warming over Angola, occurring June-early August. Dry convection fills a shallow continental boundary layer with smoke, and a nighttime (local solar time 2-9) land breeze transports the aerosol into the marine boundary layer. Offshore aerosol transport is strengthened by low-level easterlies from a continental pressure high southeast of Angola. Simultaneously, the South Atlantic subtropical high is weaker, allowing extensive dispersal of aerosol offshore into the boundary layer, obscuring cloud brightening from shipping. Meteorological co-variation at synoptic scales compensates for cloud brightening by the smoke. Outgoing shortwave radiation increases by 15–20% of the monthly mean in June and July when offshore droplet numbers are less but the stratocumulus deck is more developed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Synthesis of aerosol-cloud interactions over the southeast Atlantic throughout the seasonal cycle (Final Technical Report)

An analysis of the aerosol compositional, physical and optical datasets towards understanding why the single‐scattering‐albedo of smoke is so much lower over the southeast Atlantic than elsewhere, in particular the northern hemisphere. This includes data from the complementary NASA ORACLES aircraft campaign, which sampled closer to the African coast. The first analysis resulting from this prong of research was published earlier this year (Dobracki et al., 2023, ACP) and focused more on the free-tropospheric biomass burning aerosol (BBA). We primarily attributed the low SSA to a high number/mass fraction of black carbon, ranging from 15 to 40% of the total aerosol. We are further able to use other literature, the modified combustion efficiency, and the black carbon and carbon monoxide values to highlight a common source in dry, flame-efficient burning conditions of grasses. Condensation and coagulation of smaller aerosol particles onto the larger black carbon aerosols can also increased the SSA as the aerosol ages from 4 to 5 days. A comparison to data gathered over Ascension Island during the UK CLARIFY aircraft campaign indicates an organic aerosol loss relative to black carbon of about 50%. This is high compared to findings from other campaigns.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Seasonal variations in fire conditions are important drivers in the trend of aerosol optical properties over the south-eastern Atlantic

Abstract. From June to October, southern Africa produces one-third of the global biomass burning (BB) emissions by widespread fires. BB aerosols are transported westward over the south-eastern Atlantic with the mid-tropospheric winds, resulting in significant radiative effects. Ascension Island (ASI) is located midway between Africa and South America. From June 2016 to October 2017, a 17-month in situ observation campaign on ASI found a low single-scattering albedo (SSA) as well as a high mass absorption cross-section of black carbon (MACBC), demonstrating the strong absorbing marine boundary layer in the south-eastern Atlantic. Here we investigate the monthly variations of critical optical properties of BB aerosols, i.e. SSA and MACBC, during the BB seasons and the driving factors behind these variations. Both SSA and MACBC increase from June to August and decrease in September and October. The average SSA during the BB seasons is 0.81 at 529 nm wavelength, with the highest mean ∼ 0.85 in October and the lowest ∼ 0.78 in August. The absorption enhancement (Eabs) derived from the MACBC shows similar trends with SSA, with the average during the whole of the BB seasons at ∼ 1.96 and ∼ 2.07 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. As the Eabs is higher than the ∼ 1.5 commonly adopted value by climate models, this result suggests the marine boundary layer in the south-eastern Atlantic is more absorbing than model simulations. We find the enhanced ratio of BC to CO (ΔBC/ΔCO, equal to BC/ΔCO as the BC background concentration is considered to be 0) is well correlated with SSA and MACBC, providing a simple way to estimate the aerosol optical characteristics in the south-eastern Atlantic. The exponential function we proposed can approximate SSA and MACBC with BC/ΔCO, and when BC/ΔCO is small it can capture the rapid growth of SSA as BC/ΔCO decreases. BC/ΔCO is influenced by combustion conditions and aerosol scavenging. From the analysis of the location of BB, the primary source fuel, the water content in the fuel, combined with the mean cloud cover and precipitation in the transport areas of the BB plume, we conclude that the increase in BC/ΔCO from June to August is likely to be caused by burning becoming more flaming. The reduction in the water content of fuels may be responsible for the change in the burning conditions from June to August. The decrease in BC/ΔCO in September and October may be caused by two factors, one being a lower proportion of flaming conditions, possibly associated with a decrease in mean surface wind speed in the burning area, and the other being an increase in precipitation in the BB transport pathway, leading to enhanced aerosol scavenging, which ultimately results in an increase in SSA and MACBC.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗