CALIPSO-Derived Three-Dimensional Structure of Aerosol over the Atlantic Basin and Adjacent Continents

Accurate modeling of the impact of aerosols on climate requires a detailed understanding of the vertical distribution of aerosols. The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) provides continuous high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosol properties on a near-global scale. Here the CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask is used to document the three-dimensional (3D) frequency-of-occurrence distribution of aerosols over a broad region of the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The 3D distributions illustrate the seasonal cycle in the zonal and meridional variability of the vertical profiles of mineral dust, biomass-burning smoke, polluted dust (external mixture of dust and smoke), and polluted continental aerosol, and also of their emissions sources and transport pathways. Four aerosol domains stand out in the product: dust over North Africa and the Middle East and smoke over southern Africa and South America. The transport pathways of African dust and smoke over the Atlantic are evident. The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) plays a clear role in limiting the southward transport of North African dust and northward transport of South African smoke. Dust and smoke are mixed in the ITCZ and consequently the highest probability of polluted dust is found there, even though the probabilities of dust and smoke in this region are relatively low. The mixing of dust and pollution has significant implications for cloud microphysical processes over a broad region of the Atlantic.