Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2653-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2653-2018
Research article
 | 
23 Feb 2018
Research article |  | 23 Feb 2018

Size distribution and coating thickness of black carbon from the Canadian oil sands operations

Yuan Cheng, Shao-Meng Li, Mark Gordon, and Peter Liu

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Cited articles

Alberta Energy: Oil Sands Production Profile: 2004–2014, available at: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/cd892173-c37f-4c68-bf5d-f79ef7d49e72/resource/ebd6b451-dfda-4218-b855-1416d94306fd/download/InitiativeOSPP.pdf (last access: 15 February 2018), 2016. 
Alberta Energy: Oil Sands Facts and Statistics, available at: http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OS/AOS/Pages/FAS.aspx (last access: 15 February 2018), 2017. 
Andreae, M. O. and Gelencsér, A.: Black carbon or brown carbon? The nature of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3131–3148, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-3131-2006, 2006. 
Baumgardner, D., Kok, G., and Raga, G.: Warming of the Arctic lower stratosphere by light absorbing particles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L06117, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018883, 2004. 
Bond, T. C. and Bergstrom, R. W.: Light absorption by carbonaceous particles: an investigative review, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 40, 27–67, 2006. 
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Short summary
An aircraft campaign was conducted over the Athabasca oil sands (OS) region to characterize refractory black carbon (rBC) particles as they were emitted from the sources and as they were transported downwind; rBC size distributions were consistent at different downwind distances from the source area whereas coating thicknesses on the rBC cores increased considerably as the OS plumes were transported downwind. These results provide insights into the evolution of BC aerosol in the real atmosphere.
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