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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • biomass burning
  • aerosols
  • Amazon

Index Terms

  • Global Change: Atmosphere
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Radiation: transmission and scattering
  • Global Change: Land/atmosphere interactions
  • Atmospheric Processes: Land/atmosphere interactions

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L20404, 4 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2007GL031530

Reversal of trend of biomass burning in the Amazon

Ilan Koren

Department of Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel

Lorraine A. Remer

Laboratory for Atmospheres, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Karla Longo

Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil

We use MODIS aerosol optical depth and AVHRR fire counts over the Amazon Basin to determine whether biomass burning is increasing or decreasing over continental scales in South America. We find a significant sustained increasing trend in both the seasonal mean optical depth and fire data that begins in the year 2000 and 1998, respectively, and continues through 2005. However, there is a sharp reversal of this trend in 2006 that causes the overall trend to become less significant. The sharp decrease of biomass burning in 2006 is linked to a tri-national policy shift first implemented in 2006. The results show how significantly human activity can affect the large scale environment.

Received 3 August 2007; accepted 11 September 2007; published 18 October 2007.

Citation: Koren, I., L. A. Remer, and K. Longo (2007), Reversal of trend of biomass burning in the Amazon, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L20404, doi:10.1029/2007GL031530.

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