Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing
The surface air warming over the Arctic has been almost twice as much as the global average in recent decades. In this region, unprecedented amounts of smoldering peat fires have been identified as a major emission source of climate-warming agents. While much is known about greenhouse gas emissions...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:deaf34e7a14949fa8078e18718be9313 2023-05-15T13:11:36+02:00 Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing R. K. Chakrabarty M. Gyawali R. L. N. Yatavelli A. Pandey A. C. Watts J. Knue L.-W. A. Chen R. R. Pattison A. Tsibart V. Samburova H. Moosmüller 2016-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 https://doaj.org/article/deaf34e7a14949fa8078e18718be9313 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/3033/2016/acp-16-3033-2016.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/deaf34e7a14949fa8078e18718be9313 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 16, Pp 3033-3040 (2016) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 2022-12-31T01:05:07Z The surface air warming over the Arctic has been almost twice as much as the global average in recent decades. In this region, unprecedented amounts of smoldering peat fires have been identified as a major emission source of climate-warming agents. While much is known about greenhouse gas emissions from these fires, there is a knowledge gap on the nature of particulate emissions and their potential role in atmospheric warming. Here, we show that aerosols emitted from burning of Alaskan and Siberian peatlands are predominantly brown carbon (BrC) – a class of visible light-absorbing organic carbon (OC) – with a negligible amount of black carbon content. The mean fuel-based emission factors for OC aerosols ranged from 3.8 to 16.6 g kg −1 . Their mass absorption efficiencies were in the range of 0.2–0.8 m 2 g −1 at 405 nm (violet) and dropped sharply to 0.03–0.07 m 2 g −1 at 532 nm (green), characterized by a mean Ångström exponent of ≈ 9. Electron microscopy images of the particles revealed their morphologies to be either single sphere or agglomerated “tar balls”. The shortwave top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing per unit optical depth under clear-sky conditions was estimated as a function of surface albedo. Only over bright surfaces with albedo greater than 0.6, such as snow cover and low-level clouds, the emitted aerosols could result in a net warming (positive forcing) of the atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic black carbon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16 5 3033 3040 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 R. K. Chakrabarty M. Gyawali R. L. N. Yatavelli A. Pandey A. C. Watts J. Knue L.-W. A. Chen R. R. Pattison A. Tsibart V. Samburova H. Moosmüller Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
The surface air warming over the Arctic has been almost twice as much as the global average in recent decades. In this region, unprecedented amounts of smoldering peat fires have been identified as a major emission source of climate-warming agents. While much is known about greenhouse gas emissions from these fires, there is a knowledge gap on the nature of particulate emissions and their potential role in atmospheric warming. Here, we show that aerosols emitted from burning of Alaskan and Siberian peatlands are predominantly brown carbon (BrC) – a class of visible light-absorbing organic carbon (OC) – with a negligible amount of black carbon content. The mean fuel-based emission factors for OC aerosols ranged from 3.8 to 16.6 g kg −1 . Their mass absorption efficiencies were in the range of 0.2–0.8 m 2 g −1 at 405 nm (violet) and dropped sharply to 0.03–0.07 m 2 g −1 at 532 nm (green), characterized by a mean Ångström exponent of ≈ 9. Electron microscopy images of the particles revealed their morphologies to be either single sphere or agglomerated “tar balls”. The shortwave top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing per unit optical depth under clear-sky conditions was estimated as a function of surface albedo. Only over bright surfaces with albedo greater than 0.6, such as snow cover and low-level clouds, the emitted aerosols could result in a net warming (positive forcing) of the atmosphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
R. K. Chakrabarty M. Gyawali R. L. N. Yatavelli A. Pandey A. C. Watts J. Knue L.-W. A. Chen R. R. Pattison A. Tsibart V. Samburova H. Moosmüller |
author_facet |
R. K. Chakrabarty M. Gyawali R. L. N. Yatavelli A. Pandey A. C. Watts J. Knue L.-W. A. Chen R. R. Pattison A. Tsibart V. Samburova H. Moosmüller |
author_sort |
R. K. Chakrabarty |
title |
Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
title_short |
Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
title_full |
Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
title_fullStr |
Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
title_sort |
brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 https://doaj.org/article/deaf34e7a14949fa8078e18718be9313 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic black carbon |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic black carbon |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 16, Pp 3033-3040 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/3033/2016/acp-16-3033-2016.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/deaf34e7a14949fa8078e18718be9313 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
3033 |
op_container_end_page |
3040 |
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1766248132086071296 |