Articles | Volume 25, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7563-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7563-2025
Research article
 | 
18 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 18 Jul 2025

Source-explicit estimation of brown carbon in the polluted atmosphere over the North China Plain: implications for distribution, absorption, and the direct radiative effect

Jiamao Zhou, Jiarui Wu, Xiaoli Su, Ruonan Wang, Imad EI Haddad, Xia Li, Qian Jiang, Ting Zhang, Wenting Dai, Junji Cao, Andre S. H. Prevot, Xuexi Tie, and Guohui Li

Related authors

Abundant water-soluble calcium coatings on fine Asian dust particles
Tafeng Hu, Niu jin, Yingpan Song, Feng Wu, Jing Duan, Yuqing Zhu, Hong Huang, Yu Huang, Junji Cao, and Daizhou Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5822,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5822, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Influence of anthropogenic pollution on the molecular composition of organic aerosols over a forest site in the Qinling Mountains region of central China
Xin Zhang, Lijuan Li, Jianjun Li, Yue Lin, Yan Cheng, Rui Wang, Shuyan Xing, Chongshu Zhu, Junji Cao, and Yuemei Han
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 17139–17158, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17139-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17139-2025, 2025
Short summary
Xact625i vs. PX-375: a comparative study of online XRF ambient multi-metal monitors vs. ICP-MS
Laurence C. Windell, Saliou Mbengue, Petra Pokorná, Jaroslav Schwarz, André S. H. Prévôt, Manousos I. Manousakas, Stefanos Papagiannis, Jakub Ondráček, Roman Prokeš, and Vladimir Ždímal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 7021–7038, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7021-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7021-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Observational insights into the impact of dust transport on atmospheric dicarboxylic acids in ground region and free troposphere
Minxia Shen, Weining Qi, Yali Liu, Yifan Zhang, Wenting Dai, Lu Li, Xiao Guo, Yue Cao, Yingkun Jiang, Qian Wang, Shicong Li, Qiyuan Wang, and Jianjun Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 16147–16165, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16147-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16147-2025, 2025
Short summary
Intercomparison of online and offline XRF spectrometers for determining the PM10 elemental composition of ambient aerosol
Laura Cadeo, Beatrice Biffi, Benjamin Chazeau, Cristina Colombi, Rosario Cosenza, Eleonora Cuccia, Manousos-Ioannis Manousakas, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, André S. H. Prévôt, and Roberta Vecchi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6435–6448, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6435-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6435-2025, 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. 
Bai, K., Li, K., Ma, M., Li, K., Li, Z., Guo, J., Chang, N.-B., Tan, Z., and Han, D.: LGHAP: the Long-term Gap-free High-resolution Air Pollutant concentration dataset, derived via tensor-flow-based multimodal data fusion, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 907–927, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-907-2022, 2022 (data available at: https://doi.org/10.12041/geodata.1776940.ver1.db). 
Bohren, C. F. and Huffman, D. R.: Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles, Wiley, ISBN 9780471293408, https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527618156, 1998. 
Bond, T. C.: Spectral dependence of visible light absorption by carbonaceous particles emitted from coal combustion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 4075–4078, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013652, 2001. 
Download
Short summary
Brown carbon (BrC) is a type of airborne particle produced from various combustion sources which is light absorption. Historically, climate models have categorizing organic particles as either non-absorbing or purely reflective. Our study shows that BrC can reduce the usual cooling effect of organic particles. While BrC is often linked to biomass burning, however, BrC from fossil fuels contributes significantly to atmospheric heating.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint