scholarly journals The importance of the representation of air pollution emissions for the modeled distribution and radiative effects of black carbon in the Arctic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Schacht ◽  
Bernd Heinold ◽  
Johannes Quaas ◽  
John Backman ◽  
Ribu Cherian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Current Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Radiation Balance ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions

Abstract. Aerosol particles can contribute to the Arctic Amplification by direct and indirect radiative effects. Specifically, black carbon (BC) in the atmosphere, and when deposited on snow and sea ice, has a positive effect on the top of atmosphere radiation balance during polar day. Current climate models, however, are still struggling to reproduce Arctic aerosol conditions. We present an evaluation study with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3 to examine emission-related uncertainties in the BC distribution and the direct radiative effect of BC. The model results are comprehensively compared against latest ground and air-borne aerosol observations for the period 2005–2017 with focus on BC. Four different setups of air pollution emissions are tested. The simulations in general match well with the observed amount and temporal variability of near-surface BC in the Arctic. Using actual daily instead of fixed biomass burning emissions is crucial to reproduce individual pollution events but has only a small influence on the seasonal cycle of BC. Compared to commonly used fixed anthropogenic emissions for the year 2000, an up-to-date inventory with transient air pollution emissions results in up to 30 % higher annual BC burden and an over 0.2 W m−2 higher annual mean all-sky net direct radiative effect of BC at top of the atmosphere over the Eastern Arctic Ocean. We estimate BC in the Arctic to lead to a net gain of up 0.8 W m−2 by the direct radiative effect of atmospheric BC plus the effect by an albedo reduction by BC-in-snow. Long-range transport is identified as one of the main sources of uncertainties for ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3, leading to an overestimation of BC in atmospheric layers above 500 hPa especially in summer. This is related to a misrepresentation in wet removal in one identified case at least, that was observed during the ARCTAS summer aircraft campaign. Over all, the current model version has significantly improved since previous intercomparison studies and performs now better than the AeroCom average in terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of Arctic BC.

scholarly journals The importance of the representation of air pollution emissions for the modeled distribution and radiative effects of black carbon in the Arctic

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 11159-11183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Schacht ◽  
Bernd Heinold ◽  
Johannes Quaas ◽  
John Backman ◽  
Ribu Cherian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions ◽  
The Arctic Region

Abstract. Aerosol particles can contribute to the Arctic amplification (AA) by direct and indirect radiative effects. Specifically, black carbon (BC) in the atmosphere, and when deposited on snow and sea ice, has a positive warming effect on the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation balance during the polar day. Current climate models, however, are still struggling to reproduce Arctic aerosol conditions. We present an evaluation study with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3 to examine emission-related uncertainties in the BC distribution and the direct radiative effect of BC. The model results are comprehensively compared against the latest ground and airborne aerosol observations for the period 2005–2017, with a focus on BC. Four different setups of air pollution emissions are tested. The simulations in general match well with the observed amount and temporal variability in near-surface BC in the Arctic. Using actual daily instead of fixed biomass burning emissions is crucial for reproducing individual pollution events but has only a small influence on the seasonal cycle of BC. Compared with commonly used fixed anthropogenic emissions for the year 2000, an up-to-date inventory with transient air pollution emissions results in up to a 30 % higher annual BC burden locally. This causes a higher annual mean all-sky net direct radiative effect of BC of over 0.1 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere over the Arctic region (60–90∘ N), being locally more than 0.2 W m−2 over the eastern Arctic Ocean. We estimate BC in the Arctic as leading to an annual net gain of 0.5 W m−2 averaged over the Arctic region but to a local gain of up to 0.8 W m−2 by the direct radiative effect of atmospheric BC plus the effect by the BC-in-snow albedo reduction. Long-range transport is identified as one of the main sources of uncertainties for ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3, leading to an overestimation of BC in atmospheric layers above 500 hPa, especially in summer. This is related to a misrepresentation in wet removal in one identified case at least, which was observed during the ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites) summer aircraft campaign. Overall, the current model version has significantly improved since previous intercomparison studies and now performs better than the multi-model average in the Aerosol Comparisons between Observation and Models (AEROCOM) initiative in terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of Arctic BC.

scholarly journals Responses of Arctic black carbon and surface temperature to multi-region emission reductions: a Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution Phase 2 (HTAP2) ensemble modeling study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 8637-8654
Author(s):  
Na Zhao ◽  
Xinyi Dong ◽  
Kan Huang ◽  
Joshua S. Fu ◽  
Marianne Tronstad Lund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ensemble Modeling ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Emission Reductions ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) emissions play an important role in regional climate change in the Arctic. It is necessary to pay attention to the impact of long-range transport from regions outside the Arctic as BC emissions from local sources in the Arctic were relatively small. The task force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution Phase 2 (HTAP2) set up a series of simulation scenarios to investigate the response of BC in a given region to different source regions. This study investigated the responses of Arctic BC concentrations and surface temperature to 20 % anthropogenic emission reductions from six regions in 2010 within the framework of HTAP2 based on ensemble modeling results. Emission reductions from East Asia (EAS) had the most (monthly contributions: 0.2–1.5 ng m−3) significant impact on the Arctic near-surface BC concentrations, while the monthly contributions from Europe (EUR), Middle East (MDE), North America (NAM), Russia–Belarus–Ukraine (RBU), and South Asia (SAS) were 0.2–1.0, 0.001–0.01, 0.1–0.3, 0.1–0.7, and 0.0–0.2 ng m−3, respectively. The responses of the vertical profiles of the Arctic BC to the six regions were found to be different due to multiple transport pathways. Emission reductions from NAM, RBU, EUR, and EAS mainly influenced the BC concentrations in the low troposphere of the Arctic, while most of the BC in the upper troposphere of the Arctic derived from SAS. The response of the Arctic BC to emission reductions in six source regions became less significant with the increase in the latitude. The benefit of BC emission reductions in terms of slowing down surface warming in the Arctic was evaluated by using absolute regional temperature change potential (ARTP). Compared to the response of global temperature to BC emission reductions, the response of Arctic temperature was substantially more sensitive, highlighting the need for curbing global BC emissions.

scholarly journals Contrasting source contributions of Arctic black carbon to atmospheric concentrations, deposition flux, and atmospheric and snow radiative effects

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitoshi Matsui ◽  
Tatsuhiro Mori ◽  
Sho Ohata ◽  
Nobuhiro Moteki ◽  
Naga Oshima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Source Contributions ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) particles in the Arctic contribute to rapid warming of the Arctic by heating the atmosphere and snow and ice surfaces. Understanding the source contributions to Arctic BC is therefore important, but they are not well understood, especially those for atmospheric and snow radiative effects. Here we estimate simultaneously the source contributions of Arctic BC to near-surface and vertically integrated atmospheric BC mass concentrations (MBC_SRF and MBC_COL), BC deposition flux (MBC_DEP), and BC radiative effects at the top of the atmosphere and snow surface (REBC_TOA and REBC_SNOW), and show that the source contributions to these five variables are highly different. In our estimates, Siberia makes the largest contribution to MBC_SRF, MBC_DEP, and REBC_SNOW in the Arctic (defined as > 70° N), accounting for 70 %, 53 %, and 43 %, respectively. In contrast, Asia’s contributions to MBC_COL and REBC_TOA are largest, accounting for 38 % and 45 %, respectively. In addition, the contributions of biomass burning sources are larger (24−34 %) to MBC_DEP, REBC_TOA, and REBC_SNOW, which are highest from late spring to summer, and smaller (4.2−14 %) to MBC_SRF and MBC_COL, whose concentrations are highest from winter to spring. These differences in source contributions to these five variables are due to seasonal variations in BC emission, transport, and removal processes and solar radiation, as well as to differences in radiative effect efficiency (radiative effect per unit BC mass) among sources. Radiative effect efficiency varies by a factor of up to 4 among sources (1465−5439 W g–1) depending on lifetimes, mixing states, and heights of BC and seasonal variations of emissions and solar radiation. As a result, source contributions to radiative effects and mass concentrations (i.e., REBC_TOA and MBC_COL, respectively) are substantially different. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of considering differences in the source contributions of Arctic BC among mass concentrations, deposition, and atmospheric and snow radiative effects for accurate understanding of Arctic BC and its climate impacts.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 290
Author(s):  
Akvilė Feiferytė Skirienė ◽  
Žaneta Stasiškienė
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Pollution Monitoring ◽  
Air Pollution Monitoring ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Air Quality Improvement ◽  
Environment Agency ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions

The rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the economy, trade, transport, health care, social services, and other sectors. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, most countries imposed national lockdowns and social distancing policies. This led to reduced industrial, commercial, and human activities, followed by lower air pollution emissions, which caused air quality improvement. Air pollution monitoring data from the European Environment Agency (EEA) datasets were used to investigate how lockdown policies affected air quality changes in the period before and during the COVID-19 lockdown, comparing to the same periods in 2018 and 2019, along with an assessment of the Index of Production variation impact to air pollution changes during the pandemic in 2020. Analysis results show that industrial and mobility activities were lower in the period of the lockdown along with the reduced selected pollutant NO2, PM2.5, PM10 emissions by approximately 20–40% in 2020.

scholarly journals Dome effect of black carbon and its key influencing factors: A one-dimensional modelling study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilin Wang ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Aijun Ding
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Haze Pollution ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) has been identified to play a critical role in aerosol-planet boundary layer (PBL) interaction and further deterioration of near-surface air pollution in megacities, which has been named as its dome effect. However, the impacts of key factors that influence this effect, such as the vertical distribution and aging processes of BC, and also the underlying land surface, have not been quantitatively explored yet. Here, based on available in-situ measurements of meteorology and atmospheric aerosols together with the meteorology-chemistry online coupled model, WRF-Chem, we conduct a set of parallel simulations to quantify the roles of these factors in influencing the BC's dome effect and surface haze pollution, and discuss the main implications of the results to air pollution mitigation in China. We found that the impact of BC on PBL is very sensitive to the altitude of aerosol layer. The upper level BC, especially those near the capping inversion, is more essential in suppressing the PBL height and weakening the turbulence mixing. The dome effect of BC tends to be significantly intensified as BC aerosol mixed with scattering aerosols during winter haze events, resulting in a decrease of PBL height by more than 25 %. In addition, the dome effect is more substantial (up to 15 %) in rural areas than that in the urban areas with the same BC loading, indicating an unexpected regional impact of such kind of effect to air quality in countryside. This study suggests that China's regional air pollution would greatly benefit from BC emission reductions, especially those from the elevated sources from the chimneys and also the domestic combustions in rural areas, through weakening the aerosol-boundary layer interactions that triggered by BC.

scholarly journals A trajectory analysis of atmospheric transport of black carbon aerosols to Canadian High Arctic in winter and spring (1990–2005)

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 2221-2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Huang ◽  
S. L. Gong ◽  
S. Sharma ◽  
D. Lavoué ◽  
C. Q. Jia
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
North American ◽  
Emission Intensity ◽  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Canadian High Arctic ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Annual Variations

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) particles accumulated in the Arctic troposphere and deposited over snow have significant effects on radiative forcing of the Arctic regional climate. Applying cluster analysis technique on 10-day backward trajectories, transport pathways affecting Alert (82.5° N, 62.5° W), Nunavut in Canada are identified in this work, along with the associated transport frequency. Based on the atmospheric transport frequency and the estimated BC emission intensity from surrounding regions, a linear regression model is constructed to investigate the inter-annual variations of BC observed at Alert in January and April, representative of winter and spring respectively, between 1990 and 2005. Strong correlations are found between BC concentrations predicted with the regression model and measured at Alert for both seasons (R2 equals 0.77 and 0.81 for winter and spring, respectively). Results imply that atmospheric transport and BC emission are the major contributors to the inter-annual variations in BC concentrations observed at Alert in the cold seasons for the 16-year period. Based on the regression model the relative contributions of regional BC emissions affecting Alert are attributed to the Eurasian sector, composed of the European Union and the former USSR, and the North American sector. Considering both seasons, the model suggests that Eurasia is the major contributor to the near-surface BC levels at the Canadian High Arctic site with an average contribution of over 85% during the 16-year period. In winter, the atmospheric transport of BC aerosols from Eurasia is found to be even more predominant with a multi-year average of 94%. The model estimates smaller contribution from the Eurasian sector in spring (70%) than that in winter. It is also found that the change in Eurasian contributions depends mainly on the reduction of emission intensity, while the changes in both emission and atmospheric transport contributed to the inter-annual variation of North American contributions.

scholarly journals Status of Air Pollution Regulations Affecting Gas Turbines in 80 Nations

1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Ketterer ◽  
N. R. Dibelius
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Oxides Of Nitrogen ◽  
Ground Level Concentration ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions

This paper summarizes regulations from 80 countries covering air pollution emissions from gas turbines. The paper includes emission and ground level concentration standards for particulates, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, visible emissions, and carbon monoxide.

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