Radiative absorption enhancement from coatings on black carbon aerosols

Xinjuan Cui; Xinfeng Wang; Lingxiao Yang; Bing Chen; Jianmin Chen; August Andersson; Örjan Gustafsson

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.026

Radiative absorption enhancement from coatings on black carbon aerosols

Sci Total Environ. 2016 May 1:551-552:51-6. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.026. Epub 2016 Feb 11.

Authors

Xinjuan Cui¹, Xinfeng Wang¹, Lingxiao Yang¹, Bing Chen², Jianmin Chen³, August Andersson⁴, Örjan Gustafsson⁴

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
² Environmental Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China. Electronic address: bingchen@sdu.edu.cn.
³ Environmental Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China. Electronic address: jmchen@sdu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 26874760
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.026

Abstract

The radiative absorption enhancement of ambient black carbon (BC), by light-refractive coatings of atmospheric aerosols, constitutes a large uncertainty in estimates of climate forcing. The direct measurements of radiative absorption enhancement require the experimentally-removing the coating materials in ambient BC-containing aerosols, which remains a challenge. Here, the absorption enhancement of the BC core by non-absorbing aerosol coatings was quantified using a two-step removal of both inorganic and organic matter coatings of ambient aerosols. The mass absorption cross-section (MAC) of decoated/pure atmospheric BC aerosols of 4.4±0.8m(2)g(-1) was enhanced to 9.6±1.8m(2)g(-1) at 678-nm wavelength for ambiently-coated BC aerosols at a rural Northern China site. The enhancement of MAC (EMAC) rises from 1.4±0.3 in fresh combustion emissions to ~3 for aged ambient China aerosols. The three-week high-intensity campaign observed an average EMAC of 2.25±0.55, and sulfates were primary drivers of the enhanced BC absorption.

Keywords: Aerosol mixing states; Black carbon; China; Lensing effect; Radiative absorption.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't