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Title: Enhanced light absorption by mixed source black and brown carbon particles in UK winter

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9435· OSTI ID:1252985
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  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences Division; Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences Division
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences Division; Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  5. Aerodyne Research, Inc. Billerica, MA (United States)
  6. Aerodyne Research, Inc. Billerica, MA (United States); Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States)
  7. Aerodyne Research, Inc. Billerica, MA (United States); Boston College, Boston, MA (United States)
  8. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
  9. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  10. Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom)
  11. Univ. of York (United Kingdom)
  12. Univ. of Leicester (United Kingdom)
  13. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany)
  14. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland); Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Switzerland)
  15. Univ. of Bern, Bern (Switzerland)
  16. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)

We report that black carbon (BC) and light-absorbing organic carbon (brown carbon, BrC) play key roles in warming the atmosphere, but the magnitude of their effects remains highly uncertain. Theoretical modelling and laboratory experiments demonstrate that coatings on BC can enhance BC’s light absorption, therefore many climate models simply assume enhanced BC absorption by a factor of ~1.5. However, recent field observations show negligible absorption enhancement, implying models may overestimate BC’s warming. Here we report direct evidence of substantial field-measured BC absorption enhancement, with the magnitude strongly depending on BC coating amount. Increases in BC coating result from a combination of changing sources and photochemical aging processes. When the influence of BrC is accounted for, observationally constrained model calculations of the BC absorption enhancement can be reconciled with the observations. In conclusion, we find that the influence of coatings on BC absorption should be treated as a source and regionally specific parameter in climate models.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0008937; SC0010019; SC0006002
OSTI ID:
1252985
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 232 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (67)

Cloud droplet activation of black carbon particles coated with organic compounds of varying solubility journal January 2018
Significant climate impacts of aerosol changes driven by growth in energy use and advances in emission control technology journal January 2019
Black-carbon absorption enhancement in the atmosphere determined by particle mixing state journal February 2017
Formation of secondary organic aerosol coating on black carbon particles near vehicular emissions journal January 2017
Characterization of black carbon-containing fine particles in Beijing during wintertime journal January 2019
Morphological and radiative characteristics of soot aggregates: Experimental and numerical research journal January 2020
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon text January 2019
The influence of photochemical aging on light absorption of atmospheric black carbon and aerosol single-scattering albedo journal January 2018
Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions text January 2018
Light absorption and morphological properties of soot-containing aerosols observed at an East Asian outflow site, Noto Peninsula, Japan journal January 2016
Preface: Morphology and Internal Mixing of Atmospheric Particles journal July 2018
Simultaneous transmission and absorption photometry of carbon-black absorption from drop-cast particle-laden filters text January 2020
Investigation of the absorption Ångström exponent and its relation to physicochemical properties for mini-CAST soot text January 2018
The filter-loading effect by ambient aerosols in filter absorption photometers depends on the coating of the sampled particles journal January 2017
Physicochemical Characteristics of Individual Aerosol Particles during the 2015 China Victory Day Parade in Beijing journal January 2018
Physical Properties of Aerosol Internally Mixed With Soot Particles in a Biogenically Dominated Environment in California journal October 2018
Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions journal January 2018
Radiative absorption enhancements by black carbon controlled by particle-to-particle heterogeneity in composition journal February 2020
Markedly enhanced absorption and direct radiative forcing of black carbon under polluted urban environments journal March 2016
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon text January 2019
A novel approach to calibrating a photoacoustic absorption spectrometer using polydisperse absorbing aerosol journal January 2019
Investigation of the absorption Ångström exponent and its relation to physicochemical properties for mini-CAST soot text January 2018
Vertical characterization of aerosol optical properties and brown carbon in winter in urban Beijing, China journal August 2018
Evidence of major secondary organic aerosol contribution to lensing effect black carbon absorption enhancement journal December 2018
An inter-comparison of black-carbon-related instruments in a laboratory study of biomass burning aerosol text January 2018
On the accuracy of aerosol photoacoustic spectrometer calibrations using absorption by ozone journal January 2018
Radiative effect and climate impacts of brown carbon with the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) journal January 2018
Effects of brown coatings on the absorption enhancement of black carbon: a numerical investigation journal January 2018
Optical properties of black carbon in cookstove emissions coated with secondary organic aerosols: Measurements and modeling text January 2016
Sources and physicochemical characteristics of black carbon aerosol from the southeastern Tibetan Plateau: internal mixing enhances light absorption journal January 2018
Optical properties of black carbon in cookstove emissions coated with secondary organic aerosols: Measurements and modeling journal July 2016
Extensive Soot Compaction by Cloud Processing from Laboratory and Field Observations journal August 2019
Quantification of online removal of refractory black carbon using laser-induced incandescence in the single particle soot photometer [Supplemental Data]
  • Aiken, Allison C.; McMeeking, Gavin R.; Levin, Ezra J. T.
  • figshare-Supplementary information for journal article at DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2016.1173647, 1 DOCX file (40.41 kB) https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3156049
preprint April 2016
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Quantification of online removal of refractory black carbon using laser-induced incandescence in the single particle soot photometer text January 2016
The colors of biomass burning aerosols in the atmosphere journal June 2016
A Review of the Representation of Aerosol Mixing State in Atmospheric Models journal March 2019
Aerosol absorption retrieval at ultraviolet wavelengths in a complex environment journal August 2016
Investigation of the absorption Ångström exponent and its relation to physicochemical properties for mini-CAST soot journal April 2018
Ageing and hygroscopicity variation of black carbon particles in Beijing measured by a quasi-atmospheric aerosol evolution study (QUALITY) chamber journal January 2017
On the accuracy of aerosol photoacoustic spectrometer calibrations using absorption by ozone journal January 2018
Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions text January 2018
Effects of mixing state on optical and radiative properties of black carbon in the European Arctic journal January 2018
Effects of photochemical oxidation on the mixing state and light absorption of black carbon in the urban atmosphere of China journal April 2017
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon journal May 2019
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Simultaneous transmission and absorption photometry of carbon-black absorption from drop-cast particle-laden filters journal March 2019
Fine Particle Emissions from Sauna Stoves: Effects of Combustion Appliance and Fuel, and Implications for the Finnish Emission Inventory journal December 2019
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Quantification of online removal of refractory black carbon using laser-induced incandescence in the single particle soot photometer journal April 2016

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