Inter-annual Variability of Biomass Burning Aerosol Optical Depth in Southern Amazonia, and the Impact of These Aerosols on the Diurnal Cycle of Solar Flux Reduction

The inter-annual variability of the magnitude of biomass burning in southern Amazonia has been relatively large over the last decade. The extent of the burning in the latter half of a given dry season (July-October) depends largely on the rainfall amount and timing, with drought years exhibiting many more fires and smoke than average. Additionally, new regulations aimed at controlling burning may also affect inter-annual variability. We present measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from biomass burning smoke as measured by AERONET sites in Rondonia and Mato Grosso from 1993-2002. These AOD measurements are shown to follow similar inter-annual variability as the fire counts determined by the multi-spectral radiance measurements obtained with GOES-8. However, the AOD at these sites exhibit relatively little diurnal variation despite a very large diurnal cycle in satellite detected fire counts. In order to quantify the changes in the diurnal cycle of solar flux reduction as a result of aerosol attenuation at the peak of the burning season, we model the diurnal cycle of total shortwave (SW; 300-4000 nm), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR; 400-700 nm), and Ultraviolet- A (UVA; 320-400 nm) fluxes in mid-September using the AERONET monthly average AOD measurements (AOD(550 nm) = 1.11). These average diurnal cycle flux reductions show significant temporal delays in the morning for equivalent flux levels in all three spectral bands, of ~50 min to 2 hr 15 min at mid-morning (midpoint between sunrise and solar noon). The largest time delays in flux occur in the UVA band and the smallest in the total SW broadband due to a rapid decrease in AOD as wavelength increases for the accumulation mode smoke aerosols. The time delays in solar flux have implications for possible delay of the onset of cumulus convection, the shortening of the photo-period when plants photosynthesize, and reduced time interval for UVA fluxes which may have implications for photochemical reaction rates, survival of airborne bacteria, insect activity, and plant responses.