Quantifying evolution of soot mixing state from transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions

Xiyao Chen; Chunxiang Ye; Yuanyuan Wang; Zhijun Wu; Tong Zhu; Fan Zhang; Xiaokun Ding; Zongbo Shi; Zhonghua Zheng; Weijun Li

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108125

Quantifying evolution of soot mixing state from transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions

iScience. 2023 Oct 4;26(11):108125. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108125. eCollection 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Xiyao Chen¹, Chunxiang Ye², Yuanyuan Wang¹, Zhijun Wu², Tong Zhu², Fan Zhang¹, Xiaokun Ding³, Zongbo Shi⁴, Zhonghua Zheng⁵, Weijun Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
² College Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁴ School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
⁵ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.

Abstract

Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass burning emit large amounts of soot particles into the troposphere. The condensation process is considered to influence the size (D_p) and mixing state of soot particles, which affects their solar absorption efficiency and lifetimes. However, quantifying aging evolution of soot remains hampered in the real world because of complicated sources and observation technologies. In the Himalayas, we isolated soot sourced from transboundary transport of biomass burning and revealed soot aging mechanisms through microscopic observations. Most of coated soot particles stabilized one soot core under D_p < 400 nm, but 34.8% of them contained multi-soot cores (n_soot ≥ 2) and n_soot increased 3-9 times with increasing D_p. We established the soot mixing models to quantify transformation from condensation- to coagulation-dominant regime at D_p ≈ 400 nm. Studies provide essential references for adopting mixing rules and quantifying the optical absorption of soot in atmospheric models.

Keywords: Biomass; Chemical engineering; Engineering.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.22086281