Articles | Volume 22, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022
Research article
 | 
21 Jun 2022
Research article |  | 21 Jun 2022

Characteristics and evolution of brown carbon in western United States wildfires

Linghan Zeng, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Joseph M. Katich, Joshua P. Schwarz, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Tom Ryerson, Carsten Warneke, Anne E. Perring, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, John B. Nowak, Richard H. Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Demetrios Pagonis, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Lu Xu, and Rodney J. Weber

Related authors

Ambient aerosol properties in the remote atmosphere from global-scale in situ measurements
Charles A. Brock, Karl D. Froyd, Maximilian Dollner, Christina J. Williamson, Gregory Schill, Daniel M. Murphy, Nicholas J. Wagner, Agnieszka Kupc, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Jason C. Schroder, Douglas A. Day, Derek J. Price, Bernadett Weinzierl, Joshua P. Schwarz, Joseph M. Katich, Siyuan Wang, Linghan Zeng, Rodney Weber, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, ThaoPaul​​​​​​​ Bui, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, Chelsea R. Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilann Bourgeois, Bruce C. Daube, Róisín Commane, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15023–15063, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021, 2021
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
A method for measuring total aerosol oxidative potential (OP) with the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay and comparisons between an urban and roadside site of water-soluble and total OP
Dong Gao, Ting Fang, Vishal Verma, Linghan Zeng, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2821–2835, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2821-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2821-2017, 2017
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
The radiative impact of biomass burning aerosols on dust emissions over Namibia and the long-range transport of smoke observed during the Aerosols, Radiation and Clouds in southern Africa (AEROCLO-sA) campaign
Cyrille Flamant, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Marco Gaetani, Kerstin Schepanski, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4265–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024, 2024
Short summary
Extending the wind profile beyond the surface layer by combining physical and machine learning approaches
Boming Liu, Xin Ma, Jianping Guo, Renqiang Wen, Hui Li, Shikuan Jin, Yingying Ma, Xiaoran Guo, and Wei Gong
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4047–4063, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4047-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4047-2024, 2024
Short summary
Amazonian aerosol size distributions in a lognormal phase space: characteristics and trajectories
Gabriela R. Unfer, Luiz A. T. Machado, Paulo Artaxo, Marco A. Franco, Leslie A. Kremper, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3869–3882, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3869-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3869-2024, 2024
Short summary
Measurement report: Hygroscopicity of size-selected aerosol particles in the heavily polluted urban atmosphere of Delhi: impacts of chloride aerosol
Anil Kumar Mandariya, Ajit Ahlawat, Mohammed Haneef, Nisar Ali Baig, Kanan Patel, Joshua Apte, Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Gazala Habib
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3627–3647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3627-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3627-2024, 2024
Short summary
An observation-constrained estimation of brown carbon aerosol direct radiative effects
Yueyue Cheng, Chao Liu, Jiandong Wang, Jiaping Wang, Zhouyang Zhang, Li Chen, Dafeng Ge, Caijun Zhu, Jinbo Wang, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3065–3078, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3065-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3065-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

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., 59, 976–989, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2019.1617832, 2019. 
Aguilera, R., Corringham, T., Gershunov, A., and Benmarhnia, T.: Wildfire smoke impacts respiratory health more than fine particles from other sources: observational evidence from Southern California, Nat. Commun., 12, 1493, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21708-0, 2021. 
Akimoto, H.: Global Air Quality and Pollution, Science, 302, 1716, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1092666, 2003. 
Andreae, M. O.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning – an updated assessment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8523–8546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8523-2019, 2019. 
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. 
Download
Short summary
Wildfires emit aerosol particles containing brown carbon material that affects visibility and global climate and is toxic. Brown carbon is poorly characterized due to measurement limitations, and its evolution in the atmosphere is not well known. We report on aircraft measurements of brown carbon from large wildfires in the western United States. We compare two methods for measuring brown carbon and study the evolution of brown carbon in the smoke as it moved away from the burning regions.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint