Articles | Volume 18, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11289-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11289-2018
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
13 Aug 2018
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 13 Aug 2018

Formation and evolution of tar balls from northwestern US wildfires

Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Peter R. Buseck, Kouji Adachi, Timothy B. Onasch, Stephen R. Springston, and Lawrence Kleinman

Related authors

Burning conditions and transportation pathways determine biomass-burning aerosol properties in the Ascension Island marine boundary layer
Amie Dobracki, Ernie R. Lewis, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Tyler Tatro, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2333–2363, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2333-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2333-2025, 2025
Short summary
Atmospheric processing and aerosol aging responsible for observed increase in absorptivity of long-range transported smoke over the southeast Atlantic
Abdulamid A. Fakoya, Jens Redemann, Pablo E. Saide, Lan Gao, Logan T. Mitchell, Calvin Howes, Amie Dobracki, Ian Chang, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Kristina Pistone, Samuel E. Leblanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Thomas Eck, Brent Holben, Pawan Gupta, Elena Lind, Paquita Zuidema, Gregory Carmichael, and Connor J. Flynn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3197,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3197, 2025
Short summary
Aerosol hygroscopicity over the South-East Atlantic Ocean during the biomass burning season: Part II – Influence of burning conditions on CCN hygroscopicity
Haochi Che, Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Caroline Dang, Paquita Zuidema, and Arthur J. Sedlacek III
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3304,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3304, 2024
Short summary
Large spatiotemporal variability in aerosol properties over central Argentina during the CACTI field campaign
Jerome D. Fast, Adam C. Varble, Fan Mei, Mikhail Pekour, Jason Tomlinson, Alla Zelenyuk, Art J. Sedlacek III, Maria Zawadowicz, and Louisa Emmons
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13477–13502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13477-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13477-2024, 2024
Short summary
Biomass-burning smoke's properties and its interactions with marine stratocumulus clouds in WRF-CAM5 and southeastern Atlantic field campaigns
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Hygroscopic aerosols amplify longwave downward radiation in the Arctic
Denghui Ji, Mathias Palm, Matthias Buschmann, Kerstin Ebell, Marion Maturilli, Xiaoyu Sun, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3889–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Optical and structural properties of atmospheric water-soluble organic carbon in China – insights from multi-site spectroscopic measurements
Haibiao Chen, Caiqing Yan, Liubin Huang, Lin Du, Yang Yue, Xinfeng Wang, Qingcai Chen, Mingjie Xie, Junwen Liu, Fengwen Wang, Shuhong Fang, Qiaoyun Yang, Hongya Niu, Mei Zheng, Yan Wu, and Likun Xue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3647–3667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3647-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3647-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: The variation properties of aerosol hygroscopic growth related to chemical composition during new particle formation days in a coastal city of Southeast China
Lingjun Li, Mengren Li, Xiaolong Fan, Yuping Chen, Ziyi Lin, Anqi Hou, Siqing Zhang, Ronghua Zheng, and Jinsheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3669–3685, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3669-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3669-2025, 2025
Short summary
In situ vertical observations of the layered structure of air pollution in a continental high-latitude urban boundary layer during winter
Roman Pohorsky, Andrea Baccarini, Natalie Brett, Brice Barret, Slimane Bekki, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Elsa Dieudonné, Brice Temime-Roussel, Barbara D'Anna, Meeta Cesler-Maloney, Antonio Donateo, Stefano Decesari, Kathy S. Law, William R. Simpson, Javier Fochesatto, Steve R. Arnold, and Julia Schmale
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3687–3715, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3687-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3687-2025, 2025
Short summary
Size-resolved hygroscopicity and volatility properties of ambient urban aerosol particles measured by a volatility hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer system in Beijing
Aoyuan Yu, Xiaojing Shen, Qianli Ma, Jiayuan Lu, Xinyao Hu, Yangmei Zhang, Quan Liu, Linlin Liang, Lei Liu, Shuo Liu, Hongfei Tong, Huizheng Che, Xiaoye Zhang, and Junying Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3389–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3389-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3389-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Adachi, K. and Buseck, P. B.: Atmospheric tar balls from biomass burning in Mexico, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 116, D05204, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015102, 2011. 
Adachi, K., Chung, S. H., and Buseck, P. R.: Shapes of soot aerosol particles and implications for their effects on climate, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, D15206, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012868, 2010. 
Adachi, K., Moteki, N., Kondo, Y., and Igarashi, Y.: Mixing states of light-absorbing particles measured using a transmission electron microscope and a single-particle soot photometer in Tokyo, Japan, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 121, 9153–9164, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025153, 2016. 
Adachi, K., Sedlacek, A. J., Kleinman, L., Chand, D., Hubbe, J., and Buseck, P. R.: Thermal behavior of aerosol particles from biomass burning using a transmission electron microscope, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 52, 46–56, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2017.1373181, 2017. 
Alexander, D. T. L., Crozier, P. A., and Anderson, J. R.: Brown carbon spheres in East Asian outflow and their optical properties, Science, 321, 833–835, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155296, 2008. 
Download
Short summary
This paper presents the first direct atmospheric observations of the formation and evolution of tar balls (TBs) in forest fires collected during the Department of Energy’s Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP). We quantify, for the first time, the TB mass fraction in the BB plumes and show that this mass fraction increases from less than 1 % to 50 % within the first couple of hours of plume aging. Using Mie theory we find that TBs are consistent with being weak light absorbers.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint