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Science 27 February 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5662, pp. 1337 - 1342
DOI: 10.1126/science.1092779
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Research Articles

Smoking Rain Clouds over the Amazon

M. O. Andreae,1* D. Rosenfeld,2* P. Artaxo,3 A. A. Costa,4 G. P. Frank,1 K. M. Longo,5 M. A. F. Silva-Dias6

Heavy smoke from forest fires in the Amazon was observed to reduce cloud droplet size and so delay the onset of precipitation from 1.5 kilometers above cloud base in pristine clouds to more than 5 kilometers in polluted clouds and more than 7 kilometers in pyro-clouds. Suppression of low-level rainout and aerosol washout allows transport of water and smoke to upper levels, where the clouds appear "smoking" as they detrain much of the pollution. Elevating the onset of precipitation allows invigoration of the updrafts, causing intense thunderstorms, large hail, and greater likelihood for overshooting cloud tops into the stratosphere. There, detrained pollutants and water vapor would have profound radiative impacts on the climate system. The invigorated storms release the latent heat higher in the atmosphere. This should substantially affect the regional and global circulation systems. Together, these processes affect the water cycle, the pollution burden of the atmosphere, and the dynamics of atmospheric circulation.

1 Biogeochemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Post Office Box 3060, D-55020 Mainz, Germany.
2 Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
3 Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Rua do Matao, Travessa R, 187, CEP 05508-900, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
4 Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Avenida Paranjana, 1700, Campus do Itaperi, Fortaleza, CE, CEP 60740-000, Brazil.
5 Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudo Climáticos – Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (CPTEC-INPE), Rodovia Presidente Dutra, Km 40, SP-RJ, CEP 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
6 Departamento de Ciencias Atmosfericas, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciências Atmosfericas, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Rua do Matao, 1226CEP 05508-900, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: andreae{at}mpch-mainz.mpg.de (M.O.A., general issues); daniel.rosenfeld{at}huji.ac.il (D.R., cloud physics issues)

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