Articles | Volume 18, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6259-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6259-2018
Research article
 | 
04 May 2018
Research article |  | 04 May 2018

The absorption Ångström exponent of black carbon: from numerical aspects

Chao Liu, Chul Eddy Chung, Yan Yin, and Martin Schnaiter

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Cited articles

Alexander, D. T. L., Crozier, P. A., and Anderson, J. R.: Brown carbon spheres in East Asian outflow and their optical properties, Science, 321, 833–836, 2008. 
Ångström, A.: On the atmospheric transmission of sun radiation and on dust in the air, I, II, Geogr. Ann., 11, 156–166, 1929. 
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Short summary
The absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) of black carbon (BC) is widely accepted to be 1.0, although observational estimates give a quite wide range of 0.6–1.1. This study investigates BC AAE numerically using realistic particle properties and accurate numerical models. The significantly influence of BC microphysical properties on BC AAE is revealed by simple linear formulas, and the widely accepted BC AAE value of 1.0 is not correct for even small BC with wavelength-independent refractive index.
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