Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States
Abstract
Abstract Brown carbon aerosol consists of light‐absorbing organic particulate matter with wavelength‐dependent absorption. Aerosol optical extinction, absorption, size distributions, and chemical composition were measured in rural Alabama during summer 2013. The field site was well located to examine sources of brown carbon aerosol, with influence by high biogenic organic aerosol concentrations, pollution from two nearby cities, and biomass burning aerosol. We report the optical closure between measured dry aerosol extinction at 365 nm and calculated extinction from composition and size distribution, showing agreement within experiment uncertainties. We find that aerosol optical extinction is dominated by scattering, with single‐scattering albedo values of 0.94 ± 0.02. Black carbon aerosol accounts for 91 ± 9% of the total carbonaceous aerosol absorption at 365 nm, while organic aerosol accounts for 9 ± 9%. The majority of brown carbon aerosol mass is associated with biomass burning, with smaller contributions from biogenically derived secondary organic aerosol.
- Authors:
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- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USA, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder Colorado USA
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USA, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder Colorado USA, Now at Horiba Scientific Edison New Jersey USA
- Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder Colorado USA
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA
- Department of Chemistry Reed College Portland Oregon USA, Now at Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering California Institute of Technology Pasadena California USA
- Department of Chemistry Reed College Portland Oregon USA
- Atmospheric Research &, Analysis, Inc. Cary North Carolina USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science University of California Berkeley California USA, Department of Chemistry University of California Berkeley California USA
- Department of Chemistry Reed College Portland Oregon USA, Now at Department of Chemistry University of California Irvine California USA
- Department of Chemistry University of California Berkeley California USA
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USA, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USA
- Department of Chemistry University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa USA
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1402182
- Resource Type:
- Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Volume: 42 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Washenfelder, R. A., Attwood, A. R., Brock, C. A., Guo, H., Xu, L., Weber, R. J., Ng, N. L., Allen, H. M., Ayres, B. R., Baumann, K., Cohen, R. C., Draper, D. C., Duffey, K. C., Edgerton, E., Fry, J. L., Hu, W. W., Jimenez, J. L., Palm, B. B., Romer, P., Stone, E. A., Wooldridge, P. J., and Brown, S. S. Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/2014GL062444.
Washenfelder, R. A., Attwood, A. R., Brock, C. A., Guo, H., Xu, L., Weber, R. J., Ng, N. L., Allen, H. M., Ayres, B. R., Baumann, K., Cohen, R. C., Draper, D. C., Duffey, K. C., Edgerton, E., Fry, J. L., Hu, W. W., Jimenez, J. L., Palm, B. B., Romer, P., Stone, E. A., Wooldridge, P. J., & Brown, S. S. Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062444
Washenfelder, R. A., Attwood, A. R., Brock, C. A., Guo, H., Xu, L., Weber, R. J., Ng, N. L., Allen, H. M., Ayres, B. R., Baumann, K., Cohen, R. C., Draper, D. C., Duffey, K. C., Edgerton, E., Fry, J. L., Hu, W. W., Jimenez, J. L., Palm, B. B., Romer, P., Stone, E. A., Wooldridge, P. J., and Brown, S. S. Thu .
"Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062444.
@article{osti_1402182,
title = {Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States},
author = {Washenfelder, R. A. and Attwood, A. R. and Brock, C. A. and Guo, H. and Xu, L. and Weber, R. J. and Ng, N. L. and Allen, H. M. and Ayres, B. R. and Baumann, K. and Cohen, R. C. and Draper, D. C. and Duffey, K. C. and Edgerton, E. and Fry, J. L. and Hu, W. W. and Jimenez, J. L. and Palm, B. B. and Romer, P. and Stone, E. A. and Wooldridge, P. J. and Brown, S. S.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Brown carbon aerosol consists of light‐absorbing organic particulate matter with wavelength‐dependent absorption. Aerosol optical extinction, absorption, size distributions, and chemical composition were measured in rural Alabama during summer 2013. The field site was well located to examine sources of brown carbon aerosol, with influence by high biogenic organic aerosol concentrations, pollution from two nearby cities, and biomass burning aerosol. We report the optical closure between measured dry aerosol extinction at 365 nm and calculated extinction from composition and size distribution, showing agreement within experiment uncertainties. We find that aerosol optical extinction is dominated by scattering, with single‐scattering albedo values of 0.94 ± 0.02. Black carbon aerosol accounts for 91 ± 9% of the total carbonaceous aerosol absorption at 365 nm, while organic aerosol accounts for 9 ± 9%. The majority of brown carbon aerosol mass is associated with biomass burning, with smaller contributions from biogenically derived secondary organic aerosol.},
doi = {10.1002/2014GL062444},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 2,
volume = 42,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062444
Web of Science
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