DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Microphysical properties of atmospheric soot and organic particles: measurements, modeling, and impacts

Journal Article · · npj Climate and Atmospheric Science

Atmospheric soot and organic particles from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning modify Earth’s climate through their interactions with solar radiation and through modifications of cloud properties by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nucleating particles. Recent advancements in understanding their individual properties and microscopic composition have led to heightened interest in their microphysical properties. This review article provides an overview of current advanced microscopic measurements and offers insights into future avenues for studying microphysical properties of these particles. To quantify soot morphology and ageing, fractal dimension (Df) is a commonly employed quantitative metric which allows to characterize morphologies of soot aggregates and their modifications in relation to ageing factors like internal mixing state, core-shell structures, phase, and composition heterogeneity. Models have been developed to incorporate Df and mixing diversity metrics of aged soot particles, enabling quantitative assessment of their optical absorption and radiative forcing effects. The microphysical properties of soot and organic particles are complex and they are influenced by particle sources, ageing process, and meteorological conditions. Furthermore, soluble organic particles exhibit diverse forms and can engage in liquid–liquid phase separation with sulfate and nitrate components. Primary carbonaceous particles such as tar balls and soot warrant further attention due to their strong light absorbing properties, presence of toxic organic constituents, and small size, which can impact human health. Future research needs include both atmospheric measurements and modeling approaches, focusing on changes in the mixing structures of soot and organic particle ensembles, their effects on climate dynamics and human health.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0021977; SC0022130
OSTI ID:
2323347
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2323349
Journal Information:
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, Journal Name: npj Climate and Atmospheric Science Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 7; ISSN 2397-3722
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (172)

Long-term trends of the black carbon concentrations in the Canadian Arctic journal January 2004
Impact of Cloud Process in the Mixing State and Microphysical Properties of Soot Particles: Implications in Light Absorption Enhancement journal November 2022
Scattering and absorbing aerosols in the climate system journal May 2022
Description and evaluation of a new four-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) within version 5.3 of the Community Atmosphere Model journal January 2016
Optical properties of coated black carbon aggregates: numerical simulations, radiative forcing estimates, and size-resolved parameterization scheme journal September 2021
Modelled black carbon radiative forcing and atmospheric lifetime in AeroCom Phase II constrained by aircraft observations journal January 2014
Using Micro-Raman Spectroscopy to Investigate Chemical Composition, Mixing States, and Heterogeneous Reactions of Individual Atmospheric Particles journal July 2021
Atmospheric tar balls: Particles from biomass and biofuel burning: ATMOSPHERIC TAR BALLS journal March 2004
Ice nucleation and droplet formation by bare and coated soot particles journal January 2011
Radiative forcing of the direct aerosol effect from AeroCom Phase II simulations journal January 2013
Variability in individual particle structure and mixing states between the glacier–snowpack and atmosphere in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau journal January 2018
Morphological features and mixing states of soot-containing particles in the marine boundary layer over the Indian and Southern oceans journal July 2018
Size-Dependent Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Atmospherically Relevant Complex Systems journal October 2019
Size-selected black carbon mass distributions and mixing state in polluted and clean environments of northern India journal January 2017
Constraints on aerosol processes in climate models from vertically-resolved aircraft observations of black carbon journal January 2013
Aerosol Optical Tweezers Constrain the Morphology Evolution of Liquid-Liquid Phase-Separated Atmospheric Particles journal January 2020
Microspectroscopic imaging and characterization of individually identified ice nucleating particles from a case field study: CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIVIDUAL IN journal September 2014
Determination of and evidence for non-core-shell structure of particles containing black carbon using the Single-Particle Soot Photometer (SP2): NON-CORE-SHELL STRUCTURE OF BC PARTICLES journal March 2012
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
Airborne soil organic particles generated by precipitation journal May 2016
Vapor Condensation and Coating Evaporation Are Both Responsible for Soot Aggregate Restructuring journal June 2021
An improved inversion method for determining two-dimensional mass distributions of non-refractory materials on refractory black carbon journal October 2020
Chemistry of Atmospheric Brown Carbon journal February 2015
A Recipe for Image Characterization of Fractal-Like Aggregates journal December 1999
Liquid-liquid phase separation reduces radiative absorption by aged black carbon aerosols journal June 2022
Black carbon relationships with emissions and meteorology in Xi'an, China journal October 2009
Structural and Fractal Properties of Particles Emitted from Spark Ignition Engines journal November 2006
Toward a minimal representation of aerosols in climate models: description and evaluation in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5 journal January 2012
Structural Collapse and Coating Composition Changes of Soot Particles During Long‐Range Transport journal September 2023
An Aerosol Optical Module With Observation‐Constrained Black Carbon Properties for Global Climate Models journal October 2023
Characterisation of individual aerosol particles collected during a haze episode in Incheon, Korea using the quantitative ED-EPMA technique journal January 2011
Phase state of ambient aerosol linked with water uptake and chemical aging in the southeastern US journal January 2016
Long‐Term Variation and Source Apportionment of Black Carbon at Mt. Waliguan, China journal October 2021
Measurements of Morphology Changes of Fractal Soot Particles using Coating and Denuding Experiments: Implications for Optical Absorption and Atmospheric Lifetime journal July 2007
Atmospheric Aerosols: Composition, Transformation, Climate and Health Effects journal November 2005
Interpreting the ultraviolet aerosol index observed with the OMI satellite instrument to understand absorption by organic aerosols: implications for atmospheric oxidation and direct radiative effects journal January 2016
Infrared-absorbing carbonaceous tar can dominate light absorption by marine-engine exhaust journal May 2019
Automated particle recognition for engine soot nanoparticles journal September 2022
Estimation of global black carbon direct radiative forcing and its uncertainty constrained by observations: Radiative Forcing of Black Carbon journal May 2016
Range of validity of the Rayleigh–Debye–Gans theory for optics of fractal aggregates journal January 1996
Aerosol Liquid Water Driven by Anthropogenic Inorganic Salts: Implying Its Key Role in Haze Formation over the North China Plain journal February 2018
Enhanced Light Absorption and Radiative Forcing by Black Carbon Agglomerates journal June 2022
Effective radiative forcing from emissions of reactive gases and aerosols – a multi-model comparison journal January 2021
Light Absorption by Ambient Black and Brown Carbon and its Dependence on Black Carbon Coating State for Two California, USA, Cities in Winter and Summer journal February 2019
Overestimation of black carbon light absorption due to mixing state heterogeneity journal January 2024
Chemical and microphysical characterization of ambient aerosols with the aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer journal January 2007
Formation and evolution of tar balls from northwestern US wildfires journal January 2018
Dynamic changes in optical and chemical properties of tar ball aerosols by atmospheric photochemical aging journal January 2019
Impact of Grain Shape and Multiple Black Carbon Internal Mixing on Snow Albedo: Parameterization and Radiative Effect Analysis journal January 2018
Images reveal that atmospheric particles can undergo liquid-liquid phase separations journal July 2012
Soot aggregate restructuring during water processing journal December 2013
Biogenic Potassium Salt Particles as Seeds for Secondary Organic Aerosol in the Amazon journal August 2012
Contribution of brown carbon and lensing to the direct radiative effect of carbonaceous aerosols from biomass and biofuel burning emissions journal October 2015
Detection of tar brown carbon with a single particle soot photometer (SP2) journal January 2019
Real-Time Investigation of Chemical Compositions and Hygroscopic Properties of Aerosols Generated from NaCl and Malonic Acid Mixture Solutions Using in Situ Raman Microspectrometry journal December 2016
Quantifying evolution of soot mixing state from transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions journal November 2023
Extremely low-volatility organic coating leads to underestimation of black carbon climate impact journal February 2023
Microscopic Evidence for Phase Separation of Organic Species and Inorganic Salts in Fine Ambient Aerosol Particles journal January 2021
Modification of soot by volatile species in an urban atmosphere journal January 2008
Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC) journal January 2008
Evolution of Organic Aerosols in the Atmosphere journal December 2009
The absorption Ångström exponent of black carbon: from numerical aspects journal January 2018
A review of atmospheric individual particle analyses: Methodologies and applications in environmental research journal October 2022
Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Supermicrometer and Submicrometer Aerosol Particles journal May 2020
Shapes of soot aerosol particles and implications for their effects on climate journal January 2010
Size Dependence of the Structure of Organic Aerosol journal October 2013
Mass spectrometry of atmospheric aerosols-Recent developments and applications. Part II: On-line mass spectrometry techniques journal March 2011
Soot microphysical effects on liquid clouds, a multi-model investigation journal January 2011
Estimating Submicron Aerosol Mixing State at the Global Scale With Machine Learning and Earth System Modeling journal February 2021
Chemical Imaging of Atmospheric Particles journal November 2019
Applying machine learning to estimate the optical properties of black carbon fractal aggregates journal August 2018
Morphology and mixing state of individual freshly emitted wildfire carbonaceous particles journal July 2013
Mass spectral characterization of submicron biogenic organic particles in the Amazon Basin journal January 2009
A single-column particle-resolved model for simulating the vertical distribution of aerosol mixing state: WRF-PartMC-MOSAIC-SCM v1.0 journal January 2017
Shortwave absorption by wildfire smoke dominated by dark brown carbon journal August 2023
Mixing State and Fractal Dimension of Soot Particles at a Remote Site in the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau journal June 2019
Opportunistic experiments to constrain aerosol effective radiative forcing journal January 2022
Optical properties of mixed black and brown carbon aerosols journal August 2022
Soot Aggregate Restructuring Due to Coatings of Secondary Organic Aerosol Derived from Aromatic Precursors journal November 2014
Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong circum-Arctic warming journal March 2022
Emerging investigator series: surfactants, films, and coatings on atmospheric aerosol particles: a review journal January 2022
Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment: BLACK CARBON IN THE CLIMATE SYSTEM journal June 2013
Global modeling of SOA: the use of different mechanisms for aqueous-phase formation journal January 2014
Modeling radiative and climatic effects of brown carbon aerosols with the ARPEGE-Climat global climate model journal September 2022
Deliquescent phenomena of ambient aerosols on the North China Plain: Deliquescence of Ambient Aerosols journal August 2016
Strong radiative heating due to the mixing state of black carbon in atmospheric aerosols journal February 2001
Exploiting simultaneous observational constraints on mass and absorption to estimate the global direct radiative forcing of black carbon and brown carbon journal January 2014
Future warming exacerbated by aged-soot effect on cloud formation journal September 2020
Coatings and clusters of carboxylic acids in carbon-containing atmospheric particles from spectromicroscopy and their implications for cloud-nucleating and optical properties journal January 2010
Extensive Soot Compaction by Cloud Processing from Laboratory and Field Observations journal August 2019
Shortwave radiative impact of liquid–liquid phase separation in brown carbon aerosols journal January 2018
Effects of Sucrose on Phase Transitions of Organic/Inorganic Aerosols journal March 2020
Organic aerosol and global climate modelling: a review journal January 2005
Black carbon aggregates: A database for optical properties journal January 2019
An amorphous solid state of biogenic secondary organic aerosol particles journal October 2010
Improving BC Mixing State and CCN Activity Representation With Machine Learning in the Community Atmosphere Model Version 6 (CAM6) journal January 2024
Review of Brown Carbon Aerosols in China: Pollution Level, Optical Properties, and Emissions journal August 2022
Long-Term Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution, Black Carbon, and Their Source Components in Relation to Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke journal October 2019
Scaling Laws for Light Absorption Enhancement Due to Nonrefractory Coating of Atmospheric Black Carbon Aerosol journal November 2018
A global simulation of brown carbon: implications for photochemistry and direct radiative effect journal January 2016
The MESSy aerosol submodel MADE3 (v2.0b): description and a box model test journal January 2014
Light absorption properties of laboratory-generated tar ball particles journal January 2016
Discrete-Dipole Approximation For Scattering Calculations journal January 1994
Effect of Traffic and Driving Characteristics on Morphology of Atmospheric Soot Particles at Freeway On-Ramps journal March 2014
Black carbon absorption at the global scale is affected by particle-scale diversity in composition journal September 2016
Simplifying the calculation of light scattering properties for black carbon fractal aggregates journal August 2014
The black carbon cycle and its role in the Earth system journal July 2022
Solid organic-coated ammonium sulfate particles at high relative humidity in the summertime Arctic atmosphere journal March 2022
Nonlinear Enhancement of Radiative Absorption by Black Carbon in Response to Particle Mixing Structure journal December 2021
Development of an aerosol microphysical module: Aerosol Two-dimensional bin module for foRmation and Aging Simulation (ATRAS) journal January 2014
Ice residual properties in mixed‐phase clouds at the high‐alpine Jungfraujoch site journal October 2016
Morphology and Fractal Dimension of Size‐Resolved Soot Particles Emitted From Combustion Sources journal March 2023
Brown carbon: a significant atmospheric absorber of solar radiation? journal January 2013
Radiative absorption enhancements by black carbon controlled by particle-to-particle heterogeneity in composition journal February 2020
Mechanisms of soot-aggregate restructuring and compaction journal November 2022
Variability in morphology, hygroscopicity, and optical properties of soot aerosols during atmospheric processing journal July 2008
Modelling optical properties of atmospheric black carbon aerosols journal March 2020
Microphysical complexity of black carbon particles restricts their warming potential journal January 2024
Black carbon radiative effects highly sensitive to emitted particle size when resolving mixing-state diversity journal August 2018
The contribution of black carbon to global ice nucleating particle concentrations relevant to mixed-phase clouds journal August 2020
Organic Coating Reduces Hygroscopic Growth of Phase-Separated Aerosol Particles journal December 2021
Ice-nucleating particle emissions from biomass combustion and the potential importance of soot aerosol: Ice Nuclei From Biomass Combustion journal May 2016
Atmospheric Aerosol Chemistry: Spectroscopic and Microscopic Advances journal November 2016
In-situ measurements of the mixing state and optical properties of soot with implications for radiative forcing estimates journal July 2009
A conceptual framework for mixing structures in individual aerosol particles: Individual Aerosol Mixing Structure journal November 2016
Absorption Enhancement of Black Carbon Aerosols Constrained by Mixing-State Heterogeneity journal January 2022
Light Absorption Enhancement of Black Carbon Aerosol Constrained by Particle Morphology journal May 2018
Resolving aerosol mixing state increases accuracy of black carbon respiratory deposition estimates journal December 2020
The absorption Ångstrom exponent of black carbon with brown coatings: effects of aerosol microphysics and parameterization journal August 2020
Is Black Carbon an Unimportant Ice-Nucleating Particle in Mixed-Phase Clouds? journal April 2018
Radiative Absorption Enhancements Due to the Mixing State of Atmospheric Black Carbon journal August 2012
Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol journal June 2017
Constructing Shapes and Mixing Structures of Black Carbon Particles With Applications to Optical Calculations journal May 2021
Coupling aerosol optics to the MATCH (v5.5.0) chemical transport model and the SALSA (v1) aerosol microphysics module journal January 2016
Recommendations for reporting "black carbon" measurements journal January 2013
Spherical tarball particles form through rapid chemical and physical changes of organic matter in biomass-burning smoke journal September 2019
Zero-shot learning of aerosol optical properties with graph neural networks journal October 2023
Markedly enhanced absorption and direct radiative forcing of black carbon under polluted urban environments journal March 2016
Internally mixed atmospheric aerosol particles: Hygroscopic growth and light scattering journal January 2010
The viscosity of atmospherically relevant organic particles journal March 2018
A multiple sphere T-matrix Fortran code for use on parallel computer clusters journal September 2011
Dependence of Soot Optical Properties on Particle Morphology: Measurements and Model Comparisons journal February 2014
Fractal Dimensions and Mixing Structures of Soot Particles during Atmospheric Processing journal October 2017
Enhanced light absorption by mixed source black and brown carbon particles in UK winter journal September 2015
Persistent residential burning-related primary organic particles during wintertime hazes in North China: insights into their aging and optical changes journal January 2021
Infrared extinction spectroscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy of select components of mineral dust mixed with organic compounds: MINERAL DUST WITH ORGANIC ACIDS journal June 2013
Elemental Mixing State of Aerosol Particles Collected in Central Amazonia during GoAmazon2014/15 journal September 2017
Soot particles at an elevated site in eastern China during the passage of a strong cyclone journal July 2012
Quantifying the Fractal Dimension and Morphology of Individual Atmospheric Soot Aggregates journal March 2022
Bounding global aerosol radiative forcing of climate change journal November 2019
A review of single aerosol particle studies in the atmosphere of East Asia: morphology, mixing state, source, and heterogeneous reactions journal January 2016
Cloud droplet activation of secondary organic aerosol is mainly controlled by molecular weight, not water solubility journal January 2019
Ns-Soot: A Material-Based Term for Strongly Light-Absorbing Carbonaceous Particles journal May 2014
Unified theoretical framework for black carbon mixing state allows greater accuracy of climate effect estimation journal May 2023
An unexpected restructuring of combustion soot aggregates by subnanometer coatings of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Restructuring of Soot Induced by PAH journal October 2016
Aerosol Mixing State: Measurements, Modeling, and Impacts journal May 2019
Effective radiative forcing in the aerosol–climate model CAM5.3-MARC-ARG journal January 2018
Size distribution dynamics reveal particle-phase chemistry in organic aerosol formation journal July 2013
Global and regional climate changes due to black carbon journal March 2008
Overview of methods to characterize the mass, size, and morphology of soot journal September 2023
Single‐Scattering Properties of Encapsulated Fractal Black Carbon Particles Computed Using the Invariant Imbedding T‐Matrix Method and Deep Learning Approaches journal November 2023
Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Aerosol Particles: Imaging at the Nanometer Scale journal April 2015
Black-carbon absorption enhancement in the atmosphere determined by particle mixing state journal February 2017
Measurements of the Diversity of Shape and Mixing State for Ambient Black Carbon Particles journal September 2021
Nitrogenated organic aerosols as cloud condensation nuclei journal October 2005
Resonance-stabilized hydrocarbon-radical chain reactions may explain soot inception and growth journal September 2018
The chemical composition and complex refractive index of rural and urban influenced aerosols determined by individual particle analysis journal December 2004
AFM-IR: Technology and Applications in Nanoscale Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemical Imaging journal December 2016
Optical Modeling of Black Carbon With Different Coating Materials: The Effect of Coating Configurations journal December 2019
Coatings and their enhancement of black carbon light absorption in the tropical atmosphere journal January 2008
Deliquescence and Efflorescence Behavior of Ternary Inorganic/Organic/Water Aerosol Particles journal February 2012
Evidence for Large Amounts of Brown Carbonaceous Tarballs in the Himalayan Atmosphere journal November 2020