Deriving brown carbon from multiwavelength absorption measurements: method
and application to AERONET and Aethalometer observations

Wang, Xuan; Heald, Colette L.; Sedlacek, Arthur J.; de Sá, Suzane S.; Martin, Scot T.; Alexander, M. Lizabeth; Watson, Thomas B.; Aiken, Allison C.; Springston, Stephen R.; Artaxo, Paulo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12733-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 19

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12733-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12733-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 19

Research article

|

13 Oct 2016

Research article |

| 13 Oct 2016

Deriving brown carbon from multiwavelength absorption measurements: method and application to AERONET and Aethalometer observations

Xuan Wang, Colette L. Heald, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Suzane S. de Sá, Scot T. Martin, M. Lizabeth Alexander, Thomas B. Watson, Allison C. Aiken, Stephen R. Springston, and Paulo Artaxo

Data sets

GoAmazon2014/5 campaign, CARES campaign and TCAP campaign ARM http://www.archive.arm.gov/discovery/#v/home/s/

EMEP and NOAA/ESRL site data EBAS http://ebas.nilu.no/

OMAERUV product GES DISC http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Aura/data-holdings/OMI/

AERONET data NASA http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Short summary

We describe a new approach to estimate the absorption of brown carbon (BrC) from multiple-wavelength absorption measurements. By applying this method to column and surface observations globally, we find that BrC contributes up to 40 % of the absorption measured at 440 nm. The analysis of two surface sites also suggests that BrC absorptivity decreases with photochemical aging in biomass burning plumes, but not in typical urban conditions.