Articles | Volume 25, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2423-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2423-2025
Research article
 | 
25 Feb 2025
Research article |  | 25 Feb 2025

Characterization of atmospheric water-soluble brown carbon in the Athabasca oil sands region, Canada

Dane Blanchard, Mark Gordon, Duc Huy Dang, Paul Andrew Makar, and Julian Aherne

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Cited articles

Arp, H. P. H., Lundstedt, S., Josefsson, S., Cornelissen, G., Enell, A., Allard A.-S., and Kleja, D. B.: Native Oxy-PAHs, N-PACs, and PAHs in Historically Contaminated Soils from Sweden, Belgium, and France: Their Soil-Porewater Partitioning Behavior, Bioaccumulation in Enchytraeus crypticus, and Bioavailability, Environ. Sci. Technol., 48, 11187–11195, https://doi.org/10.1021/es5034469, 2014. 
Bakhtiari, T. M., Harbottle, D., Curran, M., Ng, S., Spence, J., Siy, R., Liu, Q., Masliyah, J., and Xu. Z.: Role of caustic addition in bitumen-clay interactions, Energy Fuels, 29, 58–69, https://doi.org/10.1021/ef502088z, 2015. 
Bari M. A. and Kindzierski W. B.: Ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in communities of the Athabasca oil sands region: Sources and screening health risk assessment, Environ. Pollut., 235, 602–614, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.12.065, 2018. 
Basnet, S., Hartikainen, A., Virkkula, A., Yli-Pirilä, P., Kortelainen, M., Suhonen, H., Kilpeläinen, L., Ihalainen, M., Väätäinen, S., Louhisalmi, J., Somero, M., Tissari, J., Jakobi, G., Zimmermann, R., Kilpeläinen, A., and Sippula, O.: Contribution of brown carbon to light absorption in emissions of European residential biomass combustion appliances, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3197–3215, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3197-2024, 2024. 
Blanchard, D.: Characterization of atmospheric water-soluble brown carbon in the Athabasca oil sands region, Canada, V1, Borealis [data set], https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/DCCS4O, 2025. 
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Short summary
This study offers the first known evaluation of water-soluble brown carbon aerosols in the Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR), Canada. Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis of aerosol samples from five regional sites (collected during the summer of 2021) identified oil sands operations as a measurable brown carbon source. Industrial aerosol emissions were unlikely to impact regional radiative forcing. These findings show that fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to monitor brown carbon in the AOSR.
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