Effects of emissions on current and future rainfall patterns in southeast Brazil

• Grant number: 08/58073-5
• Support type: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants
• Duration: June 01, 2009 - May 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry
• Cooperation agreement: CNPq - Pronex
• Principal Investigator: Arnaldo Alves Cardoso
• Grantee: Arnaldo Alves Cardoso
• Home Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Co-Principal Investigators: Bernardino Ribeiro de Figueiredo ; Lilian Rothschild Franco de Carvalho
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/21555-0 - Effect of current and future aerosol emission on rainfall emission standards, BP.PD; 11/16457-4 - Determination of acetaldehyde and formaldehyde in rainwater and its correlations with dissolved organic carbon in a sugarcane plantation region, BP.MS

Abstract

This project will be the first observation-based investigation of the climate change feedbacks involving precipitation, cloud formation and aerosols in the South American rural subtropics (southeast Brazil). The region is a natural laboratory for such a study, due to large differences in seasonal weather patterns, with distinct wet and dry periods, and well-defined sources of anthropogenic aerosols, especially agricultural biomass burning. Previous work has reported intensification of storms over large cities, due to the presence of aerosols of anthropogenic origin; here we will investigate the extent to which a similar mechanism operates in rural areas, and how it might affect the distribution and intensity of precipitation. Future changes in the nature of the region's atmospheric aerosol - the direct and indirect aerosol climate forcing are likely to diminish here, due to progressive restrictions on biomass burning - will affect this mechanism, and therefore influence the hydrological cycle, with consequences for water resources in agriculture, hydroelectricity and industrial and domestic supply. Measurements in central São Paulo State will identify coherences between the frequency, distribution and intensity of precipitation (using S-band Doppler radars), aerosol number concentrations and size distributions, the frequency of cloud to ground electrical discharges, and cloud droplet effective radius. Intensive experiments will then link aerosol physical properties with particle chemistry. Knowledge of particle chemistry will be used to identify aerosol sources (using receptor modeling). We will then be able to build conceptual models describing the influence of different aerosol classes on precipitation, and the impact of human activities. The influence of agricultural production methods on precipitation patterns will be investigated, with special emphasis on the pre-harvest burning of sugar cane, which is of interest from both climatic and human heath perspectives. (AU)

Scientific publications

(11)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SOUZA, MICHELE L.; ALLEN, ANDREW G.; CARDOSO, ARNALDO A. Understanding aerosol formation mechanisms in a subtropical atmosphere impacted by biomass burning and agroindustry. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH, v. 183, p. 94-103, JAN 1 2017. Web of Science Citations: 5.

URBAN, R. C.; ALVES, C. A.; ALLEN, A. G.; CARDOSO, A. A.; CAMPOS, M. L. A. M. Organic aerosols in a Brazilian agro-industrial area: Speciation and impact of biomass burning. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH, v. 169, n. A, p. 271-279, MAR 1 2016. Web of Science Citations: 11.

CAETANO-SILVA, L.; ALLEN, A. G.; CAMPOS, M. L. A. M.; CARDOSO, A. A. ``Will It Rain?{''} Activities Investigating Aerosol Hygroscopicity and Deliquescence. Journal of Chemical Education, v. 92, n. 4, p. 672-677, APR 2015. Web of Science Citations: 1.

SCARAMBONI, C.; URBAN, R. C.; LIMA-SOUZA, M.; NOGUEIRA, R. F. P.; CARDOSO, A. A.; ALLEN, A. G.; CAMPOS, M. L. A. M. Total sugars in atmospheric aerosols: An alternative tracer for biomass burning. Atmospheric Environment, v. 100, p. 185-192, JAN 2015. Web of Science Citations: 20.

URBAN, R. C.; ALVES, C. A.; ALLEN, A. G.; CARDOSO, A. A.; QUEIROZ, M. E. C.; CAMPOS, M. L. A. M. Sugar markers in aerosol particles from an agro-industrial region in Brazil. Atmospheric Environment, v. 90, p. 106-112, JUN 2014. Web of Science Citations: 25.

SOUZA, KELY F.; CARVALHO, LILIAN R. F.; ALLEN, ANDREW G.; CARDOSO, ARNALDO A. Diurnal and nocturnal measurements of PAH, nitro-PAH, and oxy-PAH compounds in atmospheric particulate matter of a sugar cane burning region. Atmospheric Environment, v. 83, p. 193-201, FEB 2014. Web of Science Citations: 39.

CAETANO-SILVA, L.; ALLEN, A. G.; LIMA-SOUZA, M.; CARDOSO, A. A.; CAMPOS, M. L. A. M.; NOGUEIRA, R. F. P. An analysis of diurnal cycles in the mass of ambient aerosols derived from biomass burning and agro-industry. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, v. 118, n. 15, p. 8675-8687, AUG 16 2013. Web of Science Citations: 10.

PATRÍCIA LOPES DE OLIVEIRA; BERNARDINO RIBEIRO FIGUEIREDO; ARNALDO ALVES CARDOSO; RÔMULO SIMÕES ANGÉLICA. Elementos traço em material particulado atmosférico de uma região agroindustrial do sudeste do Brasil. Química Nova, v. 36, n. 4, p. 533-539, 2013.

OLIVEIRA, PATRICIA L.; FIGUEIREDO, BERNARDINO R.; CARDOSO, ARNALDO A. Rainwater Major and Trace Element Contents in Southeastern Brazil: an Assessment of a Sugar Cane Region in Dry and Wet Period. Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, v. 23, n. 12, p. 2258-2265, DEC 2012. Web of Science Citations: 8.

URBAN, ROBERTA CERASI; LIMA-SOUZA, MICHELE; CAETANO-SILVA, LETICIA; QUEIROZ, MARIA EUGENIA C.; NOGUEIRA, RAQUEL F. P.; ALLEN, ANDREW G.; CARDOSO, ARNALDO A.; HELD, GERHARD; CAMPOS, MARIA LUCIA A. M. Use of levoglucosan, potassium, and water-soluble organic carbon to characterize the origins of biomass-burning aerosols. Atmospheric Environment, v. 61, p. 562-569, DEC 2012. Web of Science Citations: 47.

ALLEN, A. G.; MACHADO, C. M. D.; CARDOSO, A. A. Measurements and modeling of reactive nitrogen deposition in southeast Brazil. Environmental Pollution, v. 159, n. 5, SI, p. 1190-1197, May 2011. Web of Science Citations: 19.