Articles | Volume 21, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021
Research article
 | 
21 Jun 2021
Research article |  | 21 Jun 2021

Rapid transformation of ambient absorbing aerosols from West African biomass burning

Huihui Wu, Jonathan W. Taylor, Justin M. Langridge, Chenjie Yu, James D. Allan, Kate Szpek, Michael I. Cotterell, Paul I. Williams, Michael Flynn, Patrick Barker, Cathryn Fox, Grant Allen, James Lee, and Hugh Coe

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Cited articles

Abel, S. J., Haywood, J. M., Highwood, E. J., Li, J., and Buseck, P. R.: Evolution of biomass burning aerosol properties from an agricultural fire in southern Africa, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1783, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017342, 2003. 
Adler, G., Wagner, N. L., Lamb, K. D., Manfred, K. M., Schwarz, J. P., Franchin, A., Middlebrook, A. M., Washenfelder, R. A., Womack, C. C., Yokelson, R. J., and Murphy, D. M.: Evidence in biomass burning smoke for a light-absorbing aerosol with properties intermediate between brown and black carbon, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 53, 976–989, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2019.1617832, 2019. 
Ahern, A. T., Robinson, E. S., Tkacik, D. S., Saleh, R., Hatch, L. E., Barsanti, K. C., Stockwell, C. E., Yokelson, R. J., Presto, A. A., Robinson, A. L., Sullivan, R. C., and Donahue, N. M.: Production of secondary organic aerosol during aging of biomass burning smoke from fresh fuels and its relationship to VOC precursors, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 124, 3583–3606, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029068, 2019. 
Akagi, S. K., Craven, J. S., Taylor, J. W., McMeeking, G. R., Yokelson, R. J., Burling, I. R., Urbanski, S. P., Wold, C. E., Seinfeld, J. H., Coe, H., Alvarado, M. J., and Weise, D. R.: Evolution of trace gases and particles emitted by a chaparral fire in California, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 1397–1421, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-1397-2012, 2012. 
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Seasonal biomass burning over West Africa is a globally significant source of carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere, which have important climate impacts but are poorly constrained. We conducted in situ airborne measurements to investigate the evolution of smoke aerosol properties in this region. We observed absorption enhancement for both black carbon and brown carbon after emission, which provides new field results and constraints on aerosol parameterizations for future climate models.
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