African smoke over the Amazon

More soot particles reach the central Amazon rainforest from brush fires in Africa than from regional fires at some times. A plume from Africa with a high concentration of soot particles reaches the coast of Brazil. Meinrad O. Andreae, MPI for Chemistry - Up to two-thirds of the soot over the central Amazon rainforest originates in Africa. This is the result of a study now published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment. Researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, and the University of Sao Paulo distinguished soot particles based on their properties and assigned them to their sources. They found that bushfires and burning savannahs in northern and southern Africa contribute significantly to air pollution in central Amazonia throughout the year, and thus also play an important role in the atmospheric radiation budget and the hydrological cycle. This is caused by efficient transatlantic particle transport through the atmosphere.