Measurement of the aerosol vertical profile in the Amazon region using the lidar technique

• Grant number: 21/06211-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2021
• End date: July 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Henrique de Melo Jorge Barbosa
• Grantee: Gabriel Alexandre Gonçalves Costa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/17047-0 - Aerosol and clouds life cycles in Amazonia: biogenic emissions, biomass burning and impacts on ecosystem, AP.PFPMCG.TEM

Abstract

Clouds are important agents of the global climate system for being able to significantly alter Earth's energy balance, affecting the system in time scales ranging from minutes to climate change. Some types of aerosols reflect the solar radiation, cooling the planet, while others absorb this radiation, thus warming the planet. In this sense, it is very important to understand and measure the properties of aerosol particles and their vertical and spatial distribution. In this project, the student will obtain the vertical distribution of aerosols in the central Amazon region. Observational data will come from a UV Raman Lidar (laser radar). The Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, IF-USP, operated this instrument from 2011 to 2017, with interruptions, in the campus of Embrapa Ocidental in the outskirts of Manaus-AM. The student will develop routines in Python to apply the Klett inversion algorithm to the elastic scattering raw data, and obtain the vertical profile of the particle backscatter coefficient. The routines will be validated with numerical simulations of the lidar signal, available from the EARLINET network. Finally, data collected in the Amazon region will be processed for two periods: one in the wet season (low aerosol loading) and another in the try season (high loading of biomass burning aerosols). Results will be statistically evaluated, compared, and discussed in light of existing results in the literature. (AU)