Articles | Volume 22, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13389-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13389-2022
Research article
 | 
18 Oct 2022
Research article |  | 18 Oct 2022

Examination of brown carbon absorption from wildfires in the western US during the WE-CAN study

Amy P. Sullivan, Rudra P. Pokhrel, Yingjie Shen, Shane M. Murphy, Darin W. Toohey, Teresa Campos, Jakob Lindaas, Emily V. Fischer, and Jeffrey L. Collett Jr.

Related authors

Sensitivity of Simulated Ammonia Fluxes in Rocky Mountain National Park to Measurement Time Resolution and Meteorological Inputs
Lillian E. Naimie, Da Pan, Amy P. Sullivan, John T. Walker, Aleksandra Djurkovic, Bret A. Schichtel, and Jeffrey L. Collett Jr.
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1167,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1167, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Contrasting solubility and speciation of metal ions in total suspended particulate matter and fog from the coast of Namibia
Chiara Giorio, Anne Monod, Valerio Di Marco, Pierre Herckes, Denise Napolitano, Amy Sullivan, Gautier Landrot, Daniel Warnes, Marika Nasti, Sara D'Aronco, Agathe Gérardin, Nicolas Brun, Karine Desboeufs, Sylvain Triquet, Servanne Chevaillier, Claudia Di Biagio, Francesco Battaglia, Frédéric Burnet, Stuart J. Piketh, Andreas Namwoonde, Jean-François Doussin, and Paola Formenti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4140,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4140, 2025
Short summary
Understanding the mechanism and importance of brown carbon bleaching across the visible spectrum in biomass burning plumes from the WE-CAN campaign
Yingjie Shen, Rudra P. Pokhrel, Amy P. Sullivan, Ezra J. T. Levin, Lauren A. Garofalo, Delphine K. Farmer, Wade Permar, Lu Hu, Darin W. Toohey, Teresa Campos, Emily V. Fischer, and Shane M. Murphy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12881–12901, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12881-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12881-2024, 2024
Short summary
Constraining emissions of volatile organic compounds from western US wildfires with WE-CAN and FIREX-AQ airborne observations
Lixu Jin, Wade Permar, Vanessa Selimovic, Damien Ketcherside, Robert J. Yokelson, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, I-Ting Ku, Jeffrey L. Collett Jr., Amy P. Sullivan, Daniel A. Jaffe, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Alan Fried, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Carsten Warneke, Emily V. Fischer, and Lu Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5969–5991, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023, 2023
Short summary
Assessment of online water-soluble brown carbon measuring systems for aircraft sampling
Linghan Zeng, Amy P. Sullivan, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Teresa L. Campos, Joseph M. Katich, Ezra Levin, Michael A. Robinson, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6357–6378, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6357-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6357-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Marine organic aerosol at Mace Head: effects from phytoplankton and source region variability
Emmanuel Chevassus, Kirsten N. Fossum, Darius Ceburnis, Lu Lei, Chunshui Lin, Wei Xu, Colin O'Dowd, and Jurgita Ovadnevaite
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4107–4129, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4107-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4107-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Sources and meteorology influencing highly time-resolved PM2.5 trace elements at three urban sites in the extremely polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain in India
Ashutosh K. Shukla, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Shamitaksha Talukdar, Vishnu Murari, Sreenivas Gaddamidi, Manousos-Ioannis Manousakas, Vipul Lalchandani, Kuldeep Dixit, Vinayak M. Ruge, Peeyush Khare, Mayank Kumar, Vikram Singh, Neeraj Rastogi, Suresh Tiwari, Atul K. Srivastava, Dilip Ganguly, Kaspar Rudolf Daellenbach, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3765–3784, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3765-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3765-2025, 2025
Short summary
Formation of highly absorptive secondary brown carbon through nighttime multiphase chemistry of biomass burning emissions
Ye Kuang, Biao Luo, Shan Huang, Junwen Liu, Weiwei Hu, Yuwen Peng, Duohong Chen, Dingli Yue, Wanyun Xu, Bin Yuan, and Min Shao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3737–3752, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3737-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3737-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Vertically resolved atmospheric properties observed over the Southern Great Plains with the ArcticShark uncrewed aerial system
Fan Mei, Qi Zhang, Damao Zhang, Jerome D. Fast, Gourihar Kulkarni, Mikhail S. Pekour, Christopher R. Niedek, Susanne Glienke, Israel Silber, Beat Schmid, Jason M. Tomlinson, Hardeep S. Mehta, Xena Mansoura, Zezhen Cheng, Gregory W. Vandergrift, Nurun Nahar Lata, Swarup China, and Zihua Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3425–3444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3425-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3425-2025, 2025
Short summary
Non-biogenic sources are an important but overlooked contributor to aerosol isoprene-derived organosulfates during winter in northern China
Ting Yang, Yu Xu, Yu-Chen Wang, Yi-Jia Ma, Hong-Wei Xiao, Hao Xiao, and Hua-Yun Xiao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2967–2978, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2967-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2967-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

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. 
Arnott, W. P., Moosmüller, H., Rogers, C. F., Jin, T., and Bruch, R.: Photoacoustic spectrometer for measuring light absorption by aerosol: instrument description, Atmos. Environ., 33, 2845–2852, 1999. 
Campos, T.: Picarro G2401-m WS-CRDS CO2, CH4, CO and H2O in situ mixing ratio observations – ICARTT format, Version 1.2, UCAR/NCAR – Earth Observing Laboratory [data set], https://doi.org/10.26023/NNYM-Z18J-PX0Q, 2019 (data available at: http://data.eol.ucar.edu/master_lists/generated/we-can/, last access: 6 May 2019). 
Chakrabarty, R. K., Moosmüller, H., Chen, L.-W. A., Lewis, K., Arnott, W. P., Mazzoleni, C., Dubey, M. K., Wold, C. E., Hao, W. M., and Kreidenweis, S. M.: Brown carbon in tar balls from smoldering biomass combustion, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 6363–6370, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6363-2010, 2010. 
Craig, L., Moharreri, A., Schanot, A., Rogers, D. C., Anderson, B., and Dhaniyala, S.: Characterizations of Cloud Droplet Shatter Artifacts in Two Airborne Aerosol Inlets, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 47, 662–671, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2013.780648, 2013a. 
Download
Short summary
During the WE-CAN (Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen) study, brown carbon (BrC) absorption was measured on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft using a particle-into-liquid sampler and photoacoustic aerosol absorption spectrometer. Approximately 45 % of the BrC absorption in wildfires was observed to be due to water-soluble species. The ratio of BrC absorption to WSOC or ΔCO showed no clear dependence on fire dynamics or the time since emission over 9 h.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint