Up with ultrafine aerosol particles: Ultrafine aerosol particles (smaller than 50 nanometers in diameter) have been thought to be too small to affect cloud formation. Fan et al. show that this is not the case. They studied the effect of urban pollution transported into the otherwise nearly pristine atmosphere of the Amazon. Condensational growth of water droplets around the tiny particles releases latent heat, thereby intensifying atmospheric convection. Thus, anthropogenic ultrafine aerosol particles may exert a more important influence on cloud formation processes than previously believed. Science , this issue p. 411

One of the least understood aspects in atmospheric chemistry is how urban emissions influence the formation of natural organic aerosols, which affect Earth’s energy budget. The Amazon rainforest, during its wet season, is one of the few remaining places on Earth where atmospheric chemistry transitions between preindustrial and urban-influenced conditions. Here, we integrate insights from several laboratory measurements and simulate the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the Amazon using a high-resolution chemical transport model. Simulations show that emissions of nitrogen-oxides from Manaus, a city of ~2 million people, greatly enhance production of biogenic SOA by 60–200% on average with peak enhancements of 400%, through the increased oxidation of gas-phase organic carbon emitted by the forests. Simulated enhancements agree with aircraft measurements, and are much larger than those reported over other locations. The implication is that increasing anthropogenic emissions in the future might substantially enhance biogenic SOA in pristine locations like the Amazon.

This paper aims to identify the circulation associated with Easterly Wave Disturbances (EWDs) that propagate toward the Eastern Northeast Brazil (ENEB) and their impact on the rainfall over ENEB during 2006 and 2007 rainy seasons (April–July). The EWDs identification and trajectory are analyzed using an automatic tracking technique (TracKH). The EWDs circulation patterns and their main features were obtained using the composite technique. To evaluate the TracKH efficiency, a validation was done by comparing the EWDs number tracked against observed cases obtained from an observational analysis. The mean characteristics of EWDs are 5.5-day period, propagation speed of ~9.5 m·s⁻¹, and a 4500 km wavelength. A synoptic analysis shows that between days −2 d and 0 d, the low level winds presented cyclonic relative vorticity and convergence anomalies both in 2006 and 2007. The EWDs signals are strongest at low levels. The EWDs propagation is associated with relative humidity and precipitation positive anomalies and OLR and omega negative anomalies. The EWDs tracks are seen over all ENEB and their lysis occurs between the ENEB and marginally inside the continent. The tracking captured 71% of EWDs in all periods, indicating that an objective analysis is a promising method for EWDs detection.

Brazilian biomes are home to a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity, with a total of 14% of existing species and still concentrate 20% of the world’s water resources. However, changes in biomes have a direct impact on rainfall patterns and water recycling. Based on this, the objective was to evaluate the variability of rainfall in the four existing biomes in the Northeast Brazil (NEB) and their interaction with the ENSO climate variability mode and regional scale meteorological systems via CHELSA product. For this, monthly rainfall data were used from 1979 to 2013, with a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km of the CHELSA product, and seasonal and annual rainfall patterns were extracted via boxplot. It was found that the rainy season in the Amazon, Caatinga and Cerrado biomes occurred between January and April, with varying intensities, except for the Atlantic Forest. Such seasonality patterns are associated with the NEB meteorological systems, with emphasis on ITCZ (all Biomes), UTCV (Amazon, Caatinga and Cerrado), Frontal Systems (extreme south of Caatinga, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest) and EWD/TWD in the (Atlantic Forest). In the inter-annual scale, the remarkable influence of ENSO was verified, mainly in the years 1983, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2009 and 2012. It is noteworthy that 1985 was the wettest year of the period, with a surplus in all biomes, while the driest year differs between the Amazon (1983), Atlantic Forest and Caatinga (1993) and Cerrado (2012) biomes. The study via orbital product in NEB showed that anthropogenic processes and natural variability interfere with the forms of rain interception in the biomes and hence in rainfall patterns and water recycling in NEB.