Aerosol Optical Characteristics During the Biomass Burning Season in Southeastern Mexico

In this paper, we present a characterization of the optical properties of the aerosols emitted during biomass burning (BB) season in the period 2005–2009. Trends of aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (α), and precipitable water (PW) were analyzed using a 5-year dataset from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) observations over Tuxtla Gutierrez (TG), Chiapas. The overall mean AOD (500 nm) during the 2005–2009 period was 0.26 ± 0.18. However, monthly mean values of AOD > 0.5 during the spring months (April and May) would indicate the high load of particles emitted by fires. The overall mean of α (440–870 nm) was 1.40 ± 0.21, which confirms the presence of fine aerosols. Additionally, the combined analysis of the α with its spectral curvature δα, and the results from the spectral de-convolution algorithm (SDA) shows that fine-mode aerosols dominated AOD variability in TG. In this paper, the trajectories of air masses (400 and 1500 m, a.s.l.) arriving at the TG site were classified by using backward trajectory cluster analysis. Trajectory clustering results indicate a BB regional transport from Central America that affects the atmosphere in southeastern Mexico. We use observations of fire radiative power (FRP) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to study the incidence of wildfires and to estimate the BB emissions from 2005 to 2009 in southeastern Mexico. The results indicated a gradual decrease in fires throughout the years. Campeche and Yucatan are the states in southeastern Mexico where BB produces the highest emissions of carbon dioxide (CO), carbon monoxide (CO), black carbon (BC), and particulate material PM. However, the largest emissions come from wildfires in Guatemala. Finally, to put in context the aerosol optical properties over southeastern Mexico, the sun photometric measurements in TG are compared with those retrieved from AERONET stations located in other tropical biomass burning regions (Brazil and Zambia).