Abstract
Abstract. Coating enhancement of black carbon (BC) light absorption (Eabs) is a large uncertainty in modelling direct radiative forcing (DRF) by BC. Reported Eabs values after atmospheric aging vary widely and the mechanisms responsible for enhancing BC absorption remain elusive. Here, we report on the direct field measurement of size-resolved mixing state, Eabs, and aerosol single-scattering albedo (SSA) at λ = 532 nm at a rural site in east China from June to July 2016. Strong diurnal variability of Eabs, SSA, and Ox (Ox = NO2 + O3, a proxy for atmospheric photochemical aging) was observed. A method that combined Eabs and SSA was developed to retrieve the fraction contribution of BC absorption (fBC), lensing-driven enhancement (fLens), as well as the fractional contribution of coating absorption (fraction absorption contribution (fShell), the coated shell diameter (DShell) and the imaginary part of the complex refractive index (CRI) of the shell (kShell)). Parameterization of Eabs and SSA captures much of the influence of BC coating and the particle absorption. In our measurements at this site, the results showed that the absorption amplification depended on the coating thickness and the absorption of coating materials, and photochemistry plays a role in modifying the absorption of BC-containing particles. The lensing-driven enhancement was reduced by light absorption of the shell. One implication of these findings is that the contribution of light-absorbing organic compounds (brown carbon, BrC) at a longer aging time should be included in climate models.
Highlights
Black carbon (BC) is the most efficient light-absorbing component of atmospheric aerosols (Jacobson, 2001; Moffet and Prather, 2009; Cappa et al, 2012) and plays an important role in the global climate system (Ramanathan and Carmichael, 2008; Bond et al, 2013)
A recent study has shown that the improved model-estimated direct radiative forcing (DRF) of BC (+0.21 Wm−1) by including BC absorption enhancement and separately treating the aging and physical properties of fossil fuel and biomass burning BC was about 3 times lower than the values reported in the Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
The trajectories were aggregated into five groups after taking into account the wind direction, speed, and the geometric distance between individual trajectories
Summary
Black carbon (BC) is the most efficient light-absorbing component of atmospheric aerosols (Jacobson, 2001; Moffet and Prather, 2009; Cappa et al, 2012) and plays an important role in the global climate system (Ramanathan and Carmichael, 2008; Bond et al, 2013). Accurately constraining the direct radiative forcing (DRF) of BC is a challenge owing to the discrepancy between observed and modelled estimates of BC light absorption (Gustafsson and Ramanathan, 2016). A recent study has shown that the improved model-estimated DRF of BC (+0.21 Wm−1) by including BC absorption enhancement and separately treating the aging and physical properties of fossil fuel and biomass burning BC was about 3 times lower than the values reported in the Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th assessment report (+0.6 Wm−2), which suggested an overestimation of BC lifetime and an incorrect absorption attribution of light-absorbing organic compounds (brown carbon, BrC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th assessment report (+0.6 Wm−2), which suggested an overestimation of BC lifetime and an incorrect absorption attribution of light-absorbing organic compounds (brown carbon, BrC) (X. Wang et al, 2014)
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