Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements
Abstract Black carbon (BC) is estimated to have the second largest anthropogenic radiative forcing in earth‐systems models (ESMs), but there is significant uncertainty in its impact due to complex mixing with organics. Laboratory‐generated particles show that co‐mixed non‐absorbing material enhances...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099334 |
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| author | James E. Lee Kyle Gorkowski Aaron G. Meyer Katherine B. Benedict Allison C. Aiken Manvendra K. Dubey |
| author_facet | James E. Lee Kyle Gorkowski Aaron G. Meyer Katherine B. Benedict Allison C. Aiken Manvendra K. Dubey |
| author_sort | James E. Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Black carbon (BC) is estimated to have the second largest anthropogenic radiative forcing in earth‐systems models (ESMs), but there is significant uncertainty in its impact due to complex mixing with organics. Laboratory‐generated particles show that co‐mixed non‐absorbing material enhances absorption by BC by a factor of 2–3.5 as predicted by optical models. However, weak or no enhancements are often reported for field studies. The cause of lower‐than‐expected absorption is not well understood and implies a lower radiative impact of BC compared to how many ESMs currently treat aerosols. By analyzing BC aerosol particle‐by‐particle we reconcile observed and expected absorption for ambient smoke plumes varying in geographic origin, fuel types, burn conditions, atmospheric age and transport. Although particle‐by‐particle tracking is computationally prohibitive for sophisticated ESMs we show that realistic BC absorption is reliably estimated by bulk properties of the plume providing a suitable parameterization to constrain black carbon radiative forcing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-993c664ef32140c8af40c577d4e4417e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-993c664ef32140c8af40c577d4e4417e2025-08-20T03:14:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072022-07-014914n/an/a10.1029/2022GL099334Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption EnhancementsJames E. Lee0Kyle Gorkowski1Aaron G. Meyer2Katherine B. Benedict3Allison C. Aiken4Manvendra K. Dubey5Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAEarth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAEarth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAEarth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAEarth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAEarth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAAbstract Black carbon (BC) is estimated to have the second largest anthropogenic radiative forcing in earth‐systems models (ESMs), but there is significant uncertainty in its impact due to complex mixing with organics. Laboratory‐generated particles show that co‐mixed non‐absorbing material enhances absorption by BC by a factor of 2–3.5 as predicted by optical models. However, weak or no enhancements are often reported for field studies. The cause of lower‐than‐expected absorption is not well understood and implies a lower radiative impact of BC compared to how many ESMs currently treat aerosols. By analyzing BC aerosol particle‐by‐particle we reconcile observed and expected absorption for ambient smoke plumes varying in geographic origin, fuel types, burn conditions, atmospheric age and transport. Although particle‐by‐particle tracking is computationally prohibitive for sophisticated ESMs we show that realistic BC absorption is reliably estimated by bulk properties of the plume providing a suitable parameterization to constrain black carbon radiative forcing.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099334biomass burningblack carbonabsorption enhancementradiative forcingaerosol |
| spellingShingle | James E. Lee Kyle Gorkowski Aaron G. Meyer Katherine B. Benedict Allison C. Aiken Manvendra K. Dubey Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements Geophysical Research Letters biomass burning black carbon absorption enhancement radiative forcing aerosol |
| title | Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements |
| title_full | Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements |
| title_fullStr | Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements |
| title_short | Wildfire Smoke Demonstrates Significant and Predictable Black Carbon Light Absorption Enhancements |
| title_sort | wildfire smoke demonstrates significant and predictable black carbon light absorption enhancements |
| topic | biomass burning black carbon absorption enhancement radiative forcing aerosol |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099334 |
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