Detection of Aerosol Particles from Siberian Biomass Burning over the Western North Pacific

Carbonaceous aerosol particles emitted from biomass burning (BB) have a large impact on the global climate. In particular, tarball particles (TBs), which are spherical organic aerosol particles, account for a large proportion of aerosol particles from BB. In this study, we collected aerosol particle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere
Main Authors: Momoka Yoshizue, Fumikazu Taketani, Kouji Adachi, Yoko Iwamoto, Yasunori Tohjima, Tatsuhiro Mori, Kazuhiko Miura
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11111175
https://doaj.org/article/9ced4cd752e1441893b1126139f441f2
Description
Summary:Carbonaceous aerosol particles emitted from biomass burning (BB) have a large impact on the global climate. In particular, tarball particles (TBs), which are spherical organic aerosol particles, account for a large proportion of aerosol particles from BB. In this study, we collected aerosol particles over the western North Pacific and analyzed them using transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDX) to reveal their shape and composition. We detected TBs and organic carbon particles originating from Siberian forest fires. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in which a large number of TBs have been found over the Pacific Ocean far from the BB source. The spherical shapes of the TBs were maintained even after long-range transport. In addition, our individual analysis of TBs showed that the size and composition of TBs differ depending on the air mass origin. The occurrence and microphysical properties of TBs are important to accurately evaluate the impact of TBs on climate. Our results imply that TBs can be transported to the Arctic and have an influence on radiative forcing over the ocean and in the Arctic.