Haslett, S. L., Taylor, J. W., Evans, M. orcid.org/0000-0003-4775-032X et al. (18 more authors) (2019) Remote biomass burning dominates southern West African air pollution during the monsoon. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. pp. 15217-15234. ISSN 1680-7324
Abstract
Vast quantities of agricultural land in southern and central Africa are burnt between June and September each year, which releases large concentrations of aerosols into the atmosphere. The resulting smoke plumes are carried west over the Atlantic Ocean at altitudes between 2 and 4 km. As only limited observational data in West Africa have existed until now, whether this pollution has an impact at lower altitudes has remained unclear. The Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) aircraft campaign took place in southern West Africa during June and July 2016, with the aim of observing gas and aerosol properties in the region in order to assess anthropogenic and other influences on the atmosphere. Results presented here show that a significant mass of aged accumulation mode aerosol was present in the southern West African boundary layer, over both the ocean and the continent. A median dry aerosol concentration of 6.2 µg m−3 (standard temperature and pressure (STP)) was observed over the Atlantic Ocean upwind of the major cities, with an interquartile range from 5.3 to 8.0 µg m−3. This concentration increased to a median of 11.1 µg m−3 (8.6 to 15.7 µg m−3) in the immediate outflow from cities. In the continental air mass away from the cities, the median aerosol loading was 7.5 µg m−3, with an interquartile range of 4.2 µg m−3. The accumulation mode aerosol population over land displayed similar chemical properties to the upstream population, which implies that upstream aerosol is a significant source of aerosol pollution over the continent. The upstream aerosol is found to have most likely originated from central and southern African biomass burning. This demonstrates that biomass burning plumes are being advected northwards, after being entrained into the monsoon layer over the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. It is shown observationally for the first time that they contribute up to 80 % to the regional aerosol loading in the boundary layer of southern West Africa during the monsoon season. As a result, the large and growing emissions from the coastal cities are overlaid on an already substantial aerosol background. On a regional scale this renders cloud properties and precipitation less sensitive to future increases in anthropogenic emissions. Such high background loadings will lead to greater pollution exposure for the large and growing population in southern West Africa. These results emphasise the importance of including aerosol from across country borders in the development of air pollution policies and interventions in regions such as West Africa.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) 2019. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Chemistry (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Health Sciences (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EUROPEAN COMMISSION 603502 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2019 12:10 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2025 17:39 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15217-2019 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.5194/acp-19-15217-2019 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:145274 |