Abstract
Atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) makes a substantial contribution to aerosol light-absorbing and thus the global radiative forcing. Although BrC may change the lifetime of the cloud and ultimately affect precipitation, little is known regarding the optical properties and formation of BrC in the cloud. In the present study, the light-absorption properties of cloud droplet residual (cloud RES) were measured by coupled a ground-based counterflow virtual impactor (GCVI) and an Aethalometer (AE-33), in addition to the cloud interstitial (cloud INT) and ambient (cloud-free) particles by PM2.5 inlet-AE-33, at Mt. Tianjing (1690 m a.s.l.), a remote mountain site in southern China, from November to December 2020. Meanwhile, the light-absorption and fluorescence properties of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in the collected cloud water and PM2.5 samples were also obtained, associated with the concentration of water-soluble ions. The mean light-absorption coefficient (Abs370) of the cloud RES, cloud INT, and cloud-free particles were 0.25 ± 0.15, 1.16 ± 1.14, and 1.47 ± 1.23 Mm−1, respectively. The Abs365 of WSOC was 0.11 ± 0.08 Mm−1 in cloud water and 0.40 ± 0.31 Mm−1 in PM2.5, and the corresponding mass absorption efficiency (MAE365) was 0.17 ± 0.07 and 0.31 ± 0.21 m2·g−1, respectively. A comparison of the light-absorption coefficient between BrC in the cloud RES/cloud INT and WSOC in cloud water/PM2.5 indicates a considerable contribution (48–75 %) of water-insoluble BrC to total BrC light-absorption. Secondary BrC estimated by minimum R squared (MRS) method dominated the total BrC in cloud RES (67–85 %), rather than in the cloud-free (11–16 %) and cloud INT (9–23 %) particles. It may indicate the formation of secondary BrC during cloud processing. Supporting evidence includes the enhanced WSOC and dominant contribution of secondary formation/biomass burning factor (> 80 %) to Abs365 in cloud water provided by Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis. In addition, we showed that the light-absorption of BrC in cloud water was closely related to humic-like substances and tyrosine/proteins-like substances (r > 0.63, p < 0.01), whereas only humic-like substances for PM2.5, as identified by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy.
Highlights
40 Brown carbon (BrC) makes a significant contribution to global radiative forcing, equivalent to 27-70% of that from black carbon (BC) (Lin et al, 2014a)
For the cloud water and PM2.5 aqueous extracts, light-absorption properties of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) at 365 nm are taken as the representative to those of water-soluble BrC (WS-BrC) in the present study
4 Conclusions and implications In the present study, the light-absorption properties of the cloud RES, cloud INT, and cloud-free particles were simultaneously investigated at a remote mountain site in southern China
Summary
40 Brown carbon (BrC) makes a significant contribution to global radiative forcing, equivalent to 27-70% of that from black carbon (BC) (Lin et al, 2014a). Secondary BrC is observed from the photo-oxidation of aromatics (Pang et al, 2019; Yang et al, 2021a), the nitration of phenol (Heal et al, 2007; Vione et al, 2001), and the reaction of carbonyls and ammonium/amines (De Haan et al, 2011; Nguyen et al, 2012; Heal et al, 2007). These lightabsorption species such as nitrophenols, aromatic carbonyls, imidazole, and organosulfates have been detected in
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