Aerosol absorption using in situ filter-based photometers and ground-based sun photometry in the Po Valley urban atmosphere

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Bigi A., Veratti G., Andrews E., Collaud Coen M., Guerrieri L., Bernardoni V., Massabo D., Ferrero L., Teggi S., Ghermandi G.
• Other Authors: Bigi, A, Veratti, G, Andrews, E, Collaud Coen, M, Guerrieri, L, Bernardoni, V, Massabo, D, Ferrero, L, Teggi, S, Ghermandi, G
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus GmbH 2023
• Subjects: Aerosol; Po Valley; Sun Photometer; Heating Rate; CHIM/12 - CHIMICA DELL'AMBIENTE E DEI BENI CULTURALI; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/461063; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14841-2023

Light-Absorbing aerosols (LAAs) are short-lived climate forcers with a significant impact on Earth's radiative balance. LAAs include dust aerosols, black carbon (BC) and organic light-Absorbing carbonaceous aerosol (collectively termed brown carbon, BrC), which have also been proven to be highly toxic. In this study, aerosol absorption at five wavelengths (ranging from ultraviolet to infrared) was monitored continuously using filter-based photometers during two winter seasons in 2020 and 2021 in the city of Modena (southern central Po Valley, northern Italy), at two regulatory air quality monitoring sites, along with other pollutants (coarse particulate matter, PM10; fine particulate matter, PM2.5; O3; NO; NO2; and C6H6) and the vehicular traffic rate. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) and other column aerosol optical properties were concurrently monitored at four wavelengths by an AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) sun photometer under urban background conditions within Modena. In situ absorption levels were apportioned to both sources (fossil fuel and biomass burning) and species (BC and BrC), while columnar absorption was apportioned to BC, BrC and mineral dust. The combined analysis of the atmospheric aerosol and gas measurements and of the meteorological conditions (in situ and from the ERA5 reanalysis) identified the location of potential urban sources of BC and BrC, most likely related to traffic and biomass burning. In situ data show different diurnal/weekly patterns for BrC from biomass burning and BC from traffic, with minor differences between the background and the urban traffic conditions. AERONET version 3 absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) retrievals at four wavelengths allowed the estimation of the absorptive direct radiative effect due to LAAs over the same period under the reasonable assumption that the AOD signal is concentrated within the mixing layer. AERONET retrievals showed a modest correlation of columnar absorption with planetary boundary layer (PBL)-scaled in situ observations, ...