Interaction between biomass burning aerosols from the Amazon and mesoscale convective systems at the La Plata Basin: a numerical study assimilating data from Chuva and Aeroclima projects

Abstract

Known as the fifth largest river basin in the world and the second largest in the Americas, the La Plata Basin has a great hydroelectric potential with several plants built in its rivers , among which is Itaipu (the largest power plant in the world). The La Plata Basin is located in one of the regions most densely populated in South America, supporting its domestic consumption and agricultural activities. The La Plata Basin is subject to action of several Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) throughout the year. The MCS cause flooding due their high capacity of generate large amounts of rain, with economic impacts in this region. Those mesoscale systems can be influenced in the spring season by aerosols generated from biomass burning in Amazon and Central Brazil that are transported by the Low Level Jet (LLJ) to the La Plata Basin. This project´s objective is to investigate the interactions between these aerosols and MCS through numerical simulations with assimilation of data from the CHUVA and AEROCLIMA Projects. The model used is Brazilian development on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS) and the data assimilation is performed through the Maximum Likelihood Ensemble Filter (MLEF) algorithm. The goal is to propose improvements in the interaction between aerosols and MCS in the model and, eventually, work towards the development of a new parametrization to BRAMS that it's able to better represent these interactions. (AU)