Construction of a 1° × 1° fossil fuel emission data set for carbonaceous aerosol and implementation and radiative impact in the ECHAM4 model

Abstract

Global‐scale emissions of carbonaceous aerosol from fossil fuel usage have been calculated with a resolution of 1° × 1°. Emission factors for black and organic carbon have been gathered from the literature and applied to domestic, transport, and industrial combustion of various fuel types. In addition, allowance has been made for the level of development when calculating emissions from a country. Emissions have been calculated for 185 countries for the domestic, industrial, and transport sectors using a fuel usage database published by the United Nations [1993]. Some inconsistencies were found for a small number of countries with regard to the distribution of fuel usage between the industrial and domestic sectors. Care has been taken to correct for this using data from the fuel use database for the period 1970–1990. Emissions based on total particulate matter (TPM) and submicron emission factors have been calculated. Global emissions for 1984 of black carbon total 6.4 TgC yr−1 and organic carbon emissions of 10.1 TgC yr−1 were found using bulk aerosol emission factors, while global black carbon emissions of 5.1 TgC yr−1 and organic carbon emissions of 7.0 TgC yr−1 were found using submicron emission factors. Use of the database is quite flexible and can be easily updated as emission factor data are updated. There is at least a factor of 2 uncertainty in the derived emissions due to the lack of exactly appropriate emission data. The emission fields have been introduced into the ECHAM4 atmospheric general circulation model and run for 5 model years. Monthly mean model results are compared to measurements in regions influenced by anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions. The resultant aerosol fields have been used to calculate the instantaneous solar radiative forcing at the top of the troposphere due to an external mixture of fossil fuel derived black carbon and organic carbon aerosol. Column burdens of 0.143 mgBC m−2 and 0.170 mgOC m−2 were calculated. Because of secondary production of organic carbon aerosol, it is recommended that the burden of organic carbon aerosol be doubled to 0.341 mgOC m−2. The resultant forcing when clouds are included is +0.173 W m−2 for black carbon and −0.024 W m−2 for organic carbon (×2) as a global annual average. The results are compared to previous works, and the differences are discussed.