Light absorption enhancement of black carbon in a pyrocumulonimbus cloud

Beeler, Payton A.; Kumar, Joshin; Schwarz, Joshua P.; Adachi, Kouji; Fierce, Laura M.; Perring, Anne E.; Katich, Joseph M.; Chakrabarty, Rajan K.

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-50070-0

Title: Light absorption enhancement of black carbon in a pyrocumulonimbus cloud

Journal Article · 24 July 2024 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50070-0 · OSTI ID:2466259

^[1]; Kumar, Joshin ^[2]; Schwarz, Joshua P. ^[3];

^[4];

^[5]; Perring, Anne E. ^[6]; Katich, Joseph M. ^[7];

^[2]

Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
Meteorological Research Inst. (MRI), Tsukuba (Japan)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES); BAE Systems, Inc., Boulder, CO (United States)

Pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) firestorm systems have been shown to inject significant amounts of black carbon (BC) to the stratosphere with a residence time of several months. Injected BC warms the local stratospheric air, consequently perturbing transport and hence spatial distributions of ozone and water vapor. A distinguishing feature of BC-containing particles residing within pyroCb smoke is their thick surface coatings made of condensed organic matter. When coated with non-refractory materials, BC’s absorption is enhanced, yet the absorption enhancement factor (E_abs) for pyroCb BC is not well constrained. Here, we perform particle-scale measurements of BC mass, morphology, and coating thickness from inside a pyroCb cloud and quantify E_abs using an established particle-resolved BC optics model. We find that the population-averaged E_abs for BC asymptotes to 2.0 with increasing coating thickness. This value denotes the upper limit of E_abs for thickly coated BC in the atmosphere. Our results provide observationally constrained parameterizations of BC absorption for improved radiative transfer calculations of pyroCb events.

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Research Organization:: Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; SC0021011

OSTI ID:: 2466259

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA--195821

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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