South American 2020 regional smoke plume: intercomparison with previous years, impact on solar radiation, and the role of Pantanal biomass burning season

In 2020, the Pantanal Conservation Area experienced unprecedented biomass burning, with fire counts up to three times higher than the previous 17 years (2003–2019), resulting in a significant regional smoke plume. This plume, covering approximately 2.6 million km² at its peak, surpassed recent years but was smaller than historical extremes like 2007 and 2010. Notably, smoke loading in 2020 exceeded that typically observed over Amazonia, indicating local burning dominance. The study, which analyzed fire counts and aerosol optical depth (AOD), found a mean AOD of ~0.7 at 550 nm, lower than previous extreme years but sufficient to cause a surface solar radiation deficit of up to 200 W m⁻² in October. The research highlights the impact of climate extremes and weak environmental enforcement on fire-prone ecosystems, offering insights for future conservation strategies.

Rosário, N. É. d., Sena, E. T., & Yamasoe, M. A. (2022). South American 2020 regional smoke plume: intercomparison with previous years, impact on solar radiation, and the role of Pantanal biomass burning season. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22(22), 15021–15033. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15021-2022