Articles | Volume 24, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7755-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7755-2024
Research article
 | 
09 Jul 2024
Research article |  | 09 Jul 2024

The water-insoluble organic carbon in PM2.5 of typical Chinese urban areas: light-absorbing properties, potential sources, radiative forcing effects, and a possible light-absorbing continuum

Yangzhi Mo, Jun Li, Guangcai Zhong, Sanyuan Zhu, Shizhen Zhao, Jiao Tang, Hongxing Jiang, Zhineng Cheng, Chongguo Tian, Yingjun Chen, and Gan Zhang

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Cited articles

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Arola, A., Schuster, G., Myhre, G., Kazadzis, S., Dey, S., and Tripathi, S. N.: Inferring absorbing organic carbon content from AERONET data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 215–225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-215-2011, 2011. 
Baduel, C., Voisin, D., and Jaffrezo, J.-L.: Seasonal variations of concentrations and optical properties of water soluble HULIS collected in urban environments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 4085–4095, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-4085-2010, 2010. 
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Short summary
In this study, we found that biomass burning (31.0 %) and coal combustion (31.1 %) were the dominant sources of water-insoluble organic carbon in China, with coal combustion sources exhibiting the strongest light-absorbing capacity. Additionally, we propose a light-absorbing carbonaceous continuum, revealing that components enriched with fossil sources tend to have stronger light-absorbing capacity, higher aromaticity, higher molecular weights, and greater recalcitrance in the atmosphere.
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