Light Absorption Enhancement of Black Carbon Aerosol Constrained by Particle Morphology

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 52; no. 12; pp. 6912 - 6919
• Main Authors: Wu, Yu, Cheng, Tianhai, Liu, Dantong, Allan, James D, Zheng, Lijuan, Chen, Hao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 19-06-2018
• Subjects: Absorption; Aerosols; Aging; Black carbon; Carbon; Carbon black; Climate change; Climate models; Electromagnetic absorption; Environmental assessment; Morphology; Radiative forcing
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b00636

The radiative forcing of black carbon aerosol (BC) is one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate change assessments. Contrasting results of BC absorption enhancement (E abs) after aging are estimated by field measurements and modeling studies, causing ambiguous parametrizations of BC solar absorption in climate models. Here we quantify E abs using a theoretical model parametrized by the complex particle morphology of BC in different aging scales. We show that E abs continuously increases with aging and stabilizes with a maximum of ∼3.5, suggesting that previous seemingly contrast results of E abs can be explicitly described by BC aging with corresponding particle morphology. We also report that current climate models using Mie Core–Shell model may overestimate E abs at a certain aging stage with a rapid rise of E abs, which is commonly observed in the ambient. A correction coefficient for this overestimation is suggested to improve model predictions of BC climate impact.