Aerosol Chemistry, Optics and Micro-Physics over the Tropical North Atlantic and Caribbean

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

The overall objective of this program is to gain a better understanding of how aerosol particles impact climate and climate change by examining the chemical, physical, and optical properties of the major aerosol species over the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean to understand the processes that cause any significant temporal or spatial variations in those properties. Continuous measurements of aerosol properties will be made at three ground stations: Izana, Tenerife, Canary Islands; Ragged Point, Barbados; and Miami, Florida. These measurements will become part of a long-term database that began in 1965 with the establishment of an atmospheric sampling site at Ragged Point, Barbados and continued through the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment (AEROCE). The tropical North Atlantic and Caribbean are particularly important and interesting because tropical oceans are thought to have a significant impact on weather and climate, and because these ocean regions underlay an atmosphere more impacted by airborne particles, especially mineral dust, than any other. During summer months, pollutants from North Africa and southern Europe are transported with mineral dust. During the winter, less frequent episodic transport of mineral dust from more southern regions in Africa are carried through the atmosphere often with biomass burning products.