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Measurement of the mixing state, mass, and optical size of individual black carbon particles in urban and biomass burning emissions
Author(s) -
Schwarz J. P.,
Gao R. S.,
Spackman J. R.,
Watts L. A.,
Thomson D. S.,
Fahey D. W.,
Ryerson T. B.,
Peischl J.,
Holloway J. S.,
Trainer M.,
Frost G. J.,
Baynard T.,
Lack D. A.,
de Gouw J. A.,
Warneke C.,
Del Negro L. A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl033968
Subject(s) - soot , carbon black , aerosol , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , radiative forcing , biomass (ecology) , carbon fibers , biomass burning , mixing (physics) , radiative transfer , mass concentration (chemistry) , absorption (acoustics) , atmosphere (unit) , combustion , meteorology , materials science , chemistry , physics , optics , geology , natural rubber , organic chemistry , oceanography , quantum mechanics , composite number , composite material
In situ measurements of the mass, mixing state, and optical size of individual black‐carbon (BC) particles in the fine mode (90–600 nm) have been made in fresh emissions from urban and biomass burning sources with an airborne single‐particle soot photometer. Contrasts between the two sources are significant and consistent. Urban BC tends to smaller sizes, fewer coated particles, thinner coatings, and less absorption per unit mass than biomass‐burning BC. This suggests that urban BC may have a longer lifetime in the atmosphere and a different impact on BC radiative forcing in the first indirect effect than biomass‐burning BC. These measurements bound the likely variability in the microphysical state of BC emissions from typical continental processes, and provide direct measurements of the size distribution and coating state of fine‐mode BC for use in constraining climate and aerosol models. These results highlight the need for the integration of source‐specific information into such models.