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Brown Carbon Aerosol in Urban Xi'an, Northwest China: The Composition and Light Absorption Properties.
Journal article

Brown Carbon Aerosol in Urban Xi'an, Northwest China: The Composition and Light Absorption Properties.

  • Huang RJ Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Yang L Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Cao J Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Chen Y Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Chongqing 400714 , China.
  • Chen Q State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering , Peking University , Beijing 100871 , China.
  • Li Y Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology , University of Macau , Taipa 000000 , Macau China.
  • Duan J Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Zhu C Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Dai W Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Wang K Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Lin C Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Ni H Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Corbin JC Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry , Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) , Villigen 5232 , Switzerland.
  • Wu Y RCE-TEA , Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100029 , China.
  • Zhang R RCE-TEA , Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100029 , China.
  • Tie X Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology , Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi'an 710061 , China.
  • Hoffmann T Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry , Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz , Duesbergweg 10-14 , Mainz 55128 , Germany.
  • O'Dowd C School of Physics and Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies, Ryan Institute , National University of Ireland Galway , University Road , Galway H91CF50 , Ireland.
  • Dusek U Centre for Isotope Research (CIO), Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG) , University of Groningen , Groningen 9747 AG The Netherlands.
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  • 2018-05-26
Published in:
  • Environmental science & technology. - 2018
Aerosols
Air Pollutants
Carbon
China
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
English Light-absorbing organic carbon (i.e., brown carbon or BrC) in the atmospheric aerosol has significant contribution to light absorption and radiative forcing. However, the link between BrC optical properties and chemical composition remains poorly constrained. In this study, we combine spectrophotometric measurements and chemical analyses of BrC samples collected from July 2008 to June 2009 in urban Xi'an, Northwest China. Elevated BrC was observed in winter (5 times higher than in summer), largely due to increased emissions from wintertime domestic biomass burning. The light absorption coefficient of methanol-soluble BrC at 365 nm (on average approximately twice that of water-soluble BrC) was found to correlate strongly with both parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (parent-PAHs, 27 species) and their carbonyl oxygenated derivatives (carbonyl-OPAHs, 15 species) in all seasons ( r2 > 0.61). These measured parent-PAHs and carbonyl-OPAHs account for on average ∼1.7% of the overall absorption of methanol-soluble BrC, about 5 times higher than their mass fraction in total organic carbon (OC, ∼0.35%). The fractional solar absorption by BrC relative to element carbon (EC) in the ultraviolet range (300-400 nm) is significant during winter (42 ± 18% for water-soluble BrC and 76 ± 29% for methanol-soluble BrC), which may greatly affect the radiative balance and tropospheric photochemistry and therefore the climate and air quality.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/28458
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