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Morphology and mixing state of individual freshly emitted wildfire carbonaceous particles

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3122· OSTI ID:1623918
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Atmospheric Sciences Programs; DOE/OSTI
  2. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Atmospheric Sciences Programs
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Earth Systems Observations; Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Civil and Environmental Engineering
  4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Earth Systems Observations

Biomass burning is one of the largest sources of carbonaceous aerosols in the atmosphere, significantly affecting earth’s radiation budget and climate. Tar balls, abundant in biomass burning smoke, absorb sunlight and have highly variable optical properties, typically not accounted for in climate models. Here we analyse single biomass burning particles from the Las Conchas fire (New Mexico, 2011) using electron microscopy. We show that the relative abundance of tar balls (80%) is 10 times greater than soot particles (8%). We also report two distinct types of tar balls; one less oxidized than the other. Furthermore, the mixing of soot particles with other material affects their optical, chemical and physical properties. We quantify the morphology of soot particles and classify them into four categories: B50% are embedded (heavily coated), B34% are partly coated, B12% have inclusions andB4% are bare. Inclusion of these observations should improve climate model performances.

Research Organization:
Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0006941
OSTI ID:
1623918
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Morphological and radiative characteristics of soot aggregates: Experimental and numerical research journal January 2020
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The Toxicological Mechanisms of Environmental Soot (Black Carbon) and Carbon Black: Focus on Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Pathways journal June 2017
The effect of complex black carbon microphysics on the determination of the optical properties of brown carbon: BC morphology on BrC optical properties journal January 2015
Impacts of nonrefractory material on light absorption by aerosols emitted from biomass burning: Biomass burning aerosol light absorption journal November 2014
Effects of biomass burning on climate, accounting for heat and moisture fluxes, black and brown carbon, and cloud absorption effects: Effects of biomass burning on climate journal July 2014
Light-absorbing properties of ambient black carbon and brown carbon from fossil fuel and biomass burning sources: LIGHT-ABSORBING PROPERTIES OF BC journal July 2015
Ice nucleation activity of diesel soot particles at cirrus relevant temperature conditions: Effects of hydration, secondary organics coating, soot morphology, and coagulation journal April 2016
Climate Impact of a Regional Nuclear Weapons Exchange: An Improved Assessment Based On Detailed Source Calculations journal March 2018
Radiative Properties of Atmospheric Black Carbon (Soot) Particles with Complex Structures book June 2019
Characterizing elemental, equivalent black, and refractory black carbon aerosol particles: a review of techniques, their limitations and uncertainties journal December 2013
Physical Properties of Aerosol Internally Mixed With Soot Particles in a Biogenically Dominated Environment in California journal October 2018
Microscopic Observations of Core‐Shell Particle Structure and Implications for Atmospheric Aerosol Remote Sensing journal December 2018
Optical Properties of Laboratory and Ambient Biomass Burning Aerosols: Elucidating Black, Brown, and Organic Carbon Components and Mixing Regimes journal May 2019
Aerosol Mixing State: Measurements, Modeling, and Impacts journal May 2019
The Impact of Cloud Processing on the Ice Nucleation Abilities of Soot Particles at Cirrus Temperatures journal February 2020
Individual Particle Characteristics, Optical Properties and Evolution of an Extreme Long‐Range Transported Biomass Burning Event in the European Arctic (Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard Islands) journal March 2020
Optical Modeling of Black Carbon With Different Coating Materials: The Effect of Coating Configurations journal December 2019
Brownness of organics in aerosols from biomass burning linked to their black carbon content journal August 2014
Black-carbon absorption enhancement in the atmosphere determined by particle mixing state journal February 2017
Extensive Soot Compaction by Cloud Processing from Laboratory and Field Observations journal August 2019
Infrared-absorbing carbonaceous tar can dominate light absorption by marine-engine exhaust journal May 2019
Soot superaggregates from flaming wildfires and their direct radiative forcing journal July 2014
Lab on a tip: atomic force microscopy – photothermal infrared spectroscopy of atmospherically relevant organic/inorganic aerosol particles in the nanometer to micrometer size range journal January 2018
Size distribution and single particle characterization of airborne particulate matter collected in a silicon carbide plant journal January 2019
Spherical tarball particles form through rapid chemical and physical changes of organic matter in biomass-burning smoke journal September 2019
Methodology for quantifying the volatile mixing state of an aerosol journal May 2016
Optical properties of black carbon in cookstove emissions coated with secondary organic aerosols: Measurements and modeling journal July 2016
Volume changes upon heating of aerosol particles from biomass burning using transmission electron microscopy journal September 2017
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon journal May 2019
Scaling Laws for Light Absorption Enhancement Due to Nonrefractory Coating of Atmospheric Black Carbon Aerosol journal November 2018
Effects of morphology on the radiative properties of internally mixed light absorbing carbon aerosols with different aging status journal January 2014
Coating material-dependent differences in modelled lidar-measurable quantities for heavily coated soot particles journal January 2019
A Scale-up of Energy-Cycle Analysis on Processing Non-Woven Flax/PLA Tape and Triaxial Glass Fibre Fabric for Composites journal November 2019
Scattering and Radiative Properties of Morphologically Complex Carbonaceous Aerosols: A Systematic Modeling Study journal October 2018
Infrared-absorbing carbonaceous tar can dominate light absorption by marine-engine exhaust text January 2019
The Impact of Cloud Processing on the Ice Nucleation Abilities of Soot Particles at Cirrus Temperatures text January 2020
Atmospheric tar balls: aged primary droplets from biomass burning? journal January 2014
Variation of the radiative properties during black carbon aging: theoretical and experimental intercomparison journal January 2015
Mixing state of carbonaceous aerosol in an urban environment: single particle characterization using the soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS) journal January 2015
Perturbations of the optical properties of mineral dust particles by mixing with black carbon: a numerical simulation study journal January 2015
Morphology and mixing of black carbon particles collected in central California during the CARES field study journal January 2016
Light absorption properties of laboratory-generated tar ball particles journal January 2016
Size distribution and mixing state of black carbon particles during a heavy air pollution episode in Shanghai journal January 2016
Direct observations of organic aerosols in common wintertime hazes in North China: insights into direct emissions from Chinese residential stoves journal January 2017
Size-resolved chemical composition, effective density, and optical properties of biomass burning particles journal January 2017
Chemical characterization of laboratory-generated tar ball particles journal January 2018
Light absorption by polar and non-polar aerosol compounds from laboratory biomass combustion journal January 2018
Formation and evolution of tar balls from northwestern US wildfires journal January 2018
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Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions journal January 2018
Investigating biomass burning aerosol morphology using a laser imaging nephelometer journal January 2018
Quantifying black carbon light absorption enhancement with a novel statistical approach journal January 2018
Role of black carbon mass size distribution in the direct aerosol radiative forcing journal January 2019
Effective densities of soot particles and their relationships with the mixing state at an urban site in the Beijing megacity in the winter of 2018 journal January 2019
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Investigating biomass burning aerosol morphology using a laser imaging nephelometer posted_content September 2017
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Structural changes of CAST soot during a thermal–optical measurement protocol journal January 2019
Coating material-dependent differences in modelled lidar-measurable quantities for heavily coated soot particles posted_content May 2020
Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions text January 2018
Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions text January 2018
Enhanced light absorption by mixed source black and brown carbon particles in UK winter text January 2015
Optical properties of black carbon in cookstove emissions coated with secondary organic aerosols: Measurements and modeling text January 2016
Optical properties of black carbon in cookstove emissions coated with secondary organic aerosols: Measurements and modeling text January 2016
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon text January 2019
Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon text January 2019
Enhanced light absorption by mixed source black and brown carbon particles in UK winter text January 2015

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