Ice Nuclei Measurements From AMAZE-08

The Amazon Basin is the largest intact tropical forest in the world, covering four million square kilometers. With large emissions of gases and particulate matter, this ecosystem plays an important role in the global atmosphere. Assessing gaseous and particulate emissions from the Amazon Basin and the climatic effects of these emissions has been the focus of several major field campaigns. However, until recently there have been no measurements aimed at characterizing ice nuclei (IN) in this region. Such measurements are critical for understanding cloud and precipitation processes. In this paper, we present recent ice nuclei measurements from the AMazonian Aerosol characteriZation Experiment 2008 (AMAZE-08). These data were collected during the rainy season at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia TT34 tower northeast of Manaus, Brazil. Results are presented for ice nuclei number concentration and elemental composition collected using the Colorado State University Continuous Flow ice thermal Diffusion Chamber (CFDC). The data suggest that, like many regions of the world, IN concentrations are largely controlled by the presence of desert dust, in this case transported from Africa. However, carbonaceous particles also made up a significant fraction of IN. Based on complementary aerosol composition measurements, we consider possible sources of this carbonaceous fraction.