scholarly journals Modeled black carbon radiative forcing and atmospheric lifetime in AeroCom Phase II constrained by aircraft observations

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 20083-20115 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Samset ◽  
G. Myhre ◽  
A. Herber ◽  
Y. Kondo ◽  
S.-M. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Phase Ii ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Aircraft Measurement ◽  
Atmospheric Lifetime ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
Measurement Campaigns

Abstract. Atmospheric black carbon (BC) absorbs solar radiation, and exacerbates global warming through exerting positive radiative forcing (RF). However, the contribution of BC to ongoing changes in global climate is under debate. Anthropogenic BC emissions, and the resulting distribution of BC concentration, are highly uncertain. In particular, long range transport and processes affecting BC atmospheric lifetime are poorly understood. Here we discuss whether recent assessments may have overestimated present day BC radiative forcing in remote regions. We compare vertical profiles of BC concentration from four recent aircraft measurement campaigns to simulations by 13 aerosol models participating in the AeroCom Phase II intercomparision. An atmospheric lifetime of BC of less than 5 days is shown to be essential for reproducing observations in remote ocean regions, in line with other recent studies. Adjusting model results to measurements in remote regions, and at high altitudes, leads to a 25% reduction in AeroCom Phase II median direct BC forcing, from fossil fuel and biofuel burning, over the industrial era. The sensitivity of modeled forcing to BC vertical profile and lifetime highlights an urgent need for further flight campaigns, close to sources and in remote regions, to provide improved quantification of BC effects for use in climate policy.

scholarly journals Modelled black carbon radiative forcing and atmospheric lifetime in AeroCom Phase II constrained by aircraft observations

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 12465-12477 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Samset ◽  
G. Myhre ◽  
A. Herber ◽  
Y. Kondo ◽  
S.-M. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Phase Ii ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Aircraft Measurement ◽  
Atmospheric Lifetime ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
Measurement Campaigns

Abstract. Atmospheric black carbon (BC) absorbs solar radiation, and exacerbates global warming through exerting positive radiative forcing (RF). However, the contribution of BC to ongoing changes in global climate is under debate. Anthropogenic BC emissions, and the resulting distribution of BC concentration, are highly uncertain. In particular, long-range transport and processes affecting BC atmospheric lifetime are poorly understood. Here we discuss whether recent assessments may have overestimated present-day BC radiative forcing in remote regions. We compare vertical profiles of BC concentration from four recent aircraft measurement campaigns to simulations by 13 aerosol models participating in the AeroCom Phase II intercomparison. An atmospheric lifetime of BC of less than 5 days is shown to be essential for reproducing observations in remote ocean regions, in line with other recent studies. Adjusting model results to measurements in remote regions, and at high altitudes, leads to a 25% reduction in AeroCom Phase II median direct BC forcing, from fossil fuel and biofuel burning, over the industrial era. The sensitivity of modelled forcing to BC vertical profile and lifetime highlights an urgent need for further flight campaigns, close to sources and in remote regions, to provide improved quantification of BC effects for use in climate policy.

scholarly journals Detecting the influence of fossil fuel and bio-fuel black carbon aerosols on near surface temperature changes

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 799-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Jones ◽  
N. Christidis ◽  
P. A. Stott
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Near Surface

Abstract. Past research has shown that the dominant influence on recent global climate changes is from anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases with implications for future increases in global temperatures. One mitigation proposal is to reduce black carbon aerosol emissions. How much warming can be offset by controlling black carbon is unclear, especially as its influence on past climate has not been previously unambiguously detected. In this study observations of near-surface warming over the last century are compared with simulations using a climate model, HadGEM1. In the simulations black carbon, from fossil fuel and bio-fuel sources (fBC), produces a positive radiative forcing of about +0.25 Wm−2 over the 20th century, compared with +2.52 Wm−2 for well mixed greenhouse gases. A simulated warming of global mean near-surface temperatures over the twentieth century from fBC of 0.14 ± 0.1 K compares with 1.06 ± 0.07 K from greenhouse gases, −0.58 ± 0.10 K from anthropogenic aerosols, ozone and land use changes and 0.09 ± 0.09 K from natural influences. Using a detection and attribution methodology, the observed warming since 1900 has detectable influences from anthropogenic and natural factors. Fossil fuel and bio-fuel black carbon is found to have a detectable contribution to the warming over the last 50 yr of the 20th century, although the results are sensitive to the period being examined as fBC is not detected for the later fifty year period ending in 2006. The attributed warming of fBC was found to be consistent with the warming from fBC unscaled by the detection analysis. This study suggests that there is a possible significant influence from fBC on global temperatures, but its influence is small compared to that from greenhouse gas emissions.

scholarly journals Detecting the influence of fossil fuel and bio-fuel black carbon aerosols on near surface temperature changes

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 20921-20974
Author(s):  
G. S. Jones ◽  
N. Christidis ◽  
P. A. Stott
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Near Surface

Abstract. Past research has shown that the dominant influence on recent global climate changes is from anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases with implications for future increases in global temperatures. One mitigation proposal is to reduce black carbon aerosol emissions. How much warming can be offset by the aerosol's control is unclear, especially as its influence on past climate has not been previously unambiguously detected. In this study observations of near-surface warming over the last century are compared with simulations using a climate model, HadGEM1. In the simulations black carbon, from fossil fuel and bio-fuel sources (fBC), produces a positive radiative forcing of about + 0.25 Wm−2 over the 20th century, compared with a little under + 2.5 Wm−2 for well mixed greenhouse gases. A simulated warming of global mean near-surface temperatures over the twentieth century from fBC of 0.14 ± 0.1 K compares with 1.06 ± 0.07 K from greenhouse gases, -0.58 ± 0.10 K from anthropogenic aerosols, ozone and land use changes and 0.09 ± 0.09 K from natural influences. Using a detection and attribution methodology, the observed warming since 1900 has detectable influences from anthropogenic and natural factors. Fossil fuel and bio-fuel black carbon is found to have a detectable contribution to the warming over the last 50 years of the 20th century, although the results are sensitive to a number of analysis choices, and fBC is not detected for the later fifty year period ending in 2006. The attributed warming of fBC was found to be consistent with the warming from the unscaled simulation. This study suggests that there is a possible significant influence from fBC on global temperatures, but its influence is small compared to that from greenhouse gas emissions.

scholarly journals Multicentury Changes to the Global Climate and Carbon Cycle: Results from a Coupled Climate and Carbon Cycle Model

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 4531-4544 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bala ◽  
K. Caldeira ◽  
A. Mirin ◽  
M. Wickett ◽  
C. Delire
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Carbon Cycle Model ◽  
Living Biomass ◽  
Long Term Consequences

Abstract A coupled climate and carbon (CO2) cycle model is used to investigate the global climate and carbon cycle changes out to the year 2300 that would occur if CO2 emissions from all the currently estimated fossil fuel resources were released to the atmosphere. By the year 2300, the global climate warms by about 8 K and atmospheric CO2 reaches 1423 ppmv. The warming is higher than anticipated because the sensitivity to radiative forcing increases as the simulation progresses. In this simulation, the rate of emissions peaks at over 30 Pg C yr−1 early in the twenty-second century. Even at the year 2300, nearly 50% of cumulative emissions remain in the atmosphere. Both soils and living biomass are net carbon sinks throughout the simulation. Despite having relatively low climate sensitivity and strong carbon uptake by the land biosphere, these model projections suggest severe long-term consequences for global climate if all the fossil fuel carbon is ultimately released into the atmosphere.

scholarly journals Black carbon in the atmosphere and snow, from pre-industrial times until present

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 6809-6836 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Skeie ◽  
T. Berntsen ◽  
G. Myhre ◽  
C. A. Pedersen ◽  
J. Ström ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Slight Reduction ◽  
Snow Albedo ◽  
Aerosol Effect ◽  
Albedo Effect ◽  
Concentration Changes ◽  
Global Mean

Abstract. The distribution of black carbon (BC) in the atmosphere and the deposition of BC on snow surfaces since pre-industrial time until present are modelled with the Oslo CTM2 model. The model results are compared with observations including recent measurements of BC in snow in the Arctic. The global mean burden of BC from fossil fuel and biofuel sources increased during two periods. The first period, until 1920, is related to increases in emissions in North America and Europe, and the last period after 1970 are related mainly to increasing emissions in East Asia. Although the global burden of BC from fossil fuel and biofuel increases, in the Arctic the maximum atmospheric BC burden as well as in the snow was reached in 1960s, with a slight reduction thereafter. The global mean burden of BC from open biomass burning sources has not changed significantly since 1900. With current inventories of emissions from open biomass sources, the modelled burden of BC in snow and in the atmosphere north of 65° N is small compared to the BC burden of fossil fuel and biofuel origin. From the concentration changes radiative forcing time series due to the direct aerosol effect as well as the snow-albedo effect is calculated for BC from fossil fuel and biofuel. The calculated radiative forcing in 2000 for the direct aerosol effect is 0.35 W m−2 and for the snow-albedo effect 0.016 W m−2 in this study. Due to a southward shift in the emissions there is an increase in the lifetime of BC as well as an increase in normalized radiative forcing, giving a change in forcing per unit of emissions of 26 % since 1950.

scholarly journals Standard source of atmospheric black carbon aerosol generated from ultrasonic spray of BC suspension

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchen Zhu ◽  
Huixiang Wang ◽  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Hao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Standard Source ◽  
Spray System ◽  
Ultrasonic Spray ◽  
Black Carbon Aerosol ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Absorption Photometer

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) aerosol has strong radiative forcing and plays an important role in global climate change and human health. A generator with low levels of BC-air is developed in this study for researchers to calibrate BC monitors. Ultrasonic nozzle is applied to atomize BC suspension to produce quantificational BC-air samples which can be used directly as a standard source of BC. Membrane test conducted by balance is used to check up its feasibility. Results show that the relationship of weight increment of membrane and target concentration of BC-air have very good linearity. This confirms that the ultrasonic spray system is a good source to generate standard concentration of BC-air. The device has good feasibility in the BC concentrations range of 0–200 μg m−3. Multi Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) is used to detect the concentration of BC-air generated by the ultrasonic spray of suspension. Target concentrations generated by the device accord with the measured data of MAAP.

scholarly journals Enhanced solar energy absorption by internally-mixed black carbon in snow grains

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2057-2113 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Flanner ◽  
X. Liu ◽  
C. Zhou ◽  
J. E. Penner
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Absorption Enhancement ◽  
Liquid Droplets ◽  
Vapor Transfer

Abstract. Here we explore light absorption by snowpack containing black carbon (BC) particles residing within ice grains. Basic considerations of particle volumes and BC/snow mass concentrations show that there are generally 0.05–109 BC particles for each ice grain. This suggests that internal BC is likely distributed as multiple inclusions within ice grains, and thus the dynamic effective medium approximation (DEMA) (Chýlek and Srivastava, 1983) is a more appropriate optical representation for BC/ice composites than coated-sphere or standard mixing approximations. DEMA calculations show that the 460 nm absorption cross-section of BC/ice composites, normalized to the mass of BC, is typically enhanced by factors of 1.8–2.1 relative to interstitial BC. BC effective radius is the dominant cause of variation in this enhancement, compared with ice grain size and BC volume fraction. We apply two atmospheric aerosol models that simulate interstitial and within-hydrometeor BC lifecycles. Although only ~2% of the atmospheric BC burden is cloud-borne, 71–83% of the BC deposited to global snow and sea-ice surfaces occurs within hydrometeors. Key processes responsible for within-snow BC deposition are development of hydrophilic coatings on BC, activation of liquid droplets, and subsequent snow formation through riming or ice nucleation by other species and aggregation/accretion of ice particles. Applying deposition fields from these aerosol models in offline snow and sea-ice simulations, we calculate that 32–73% of BC in global surface snow resides within ice grains. This fraction is smaller than the within-hydrometeor deposition fraction because meltwater flux preferentially removes internal BC, while sublimation and freezing within snowpack expose internal BC. Incorporating the DEMA into a global climate model, we simulate increases in BC/snow radiative forcing of 43–86%, relative to scenarios that apply external optical properties to all BC. We show that snow metamorphism driven by diffusive vapor transfer likely proceeds too slowly to alter the mass of internal BC while it is radiatively active, but neglected processes like wind pumping and convection may play much larger roles. These results suggest that a large portion of BC in surface snowpack may reside within ice grains and increase BC/snow radiative forcing, although measurements to evaluate this are lacking. Finally, previous studies of BC/snow forcing that neglected this absorption enhancement are not necessarily biased low, because of application of absorption-enhancing sulfate coatings to hydrophilic BC, neglect of coincident absorption by dust in snow, and implicit treatment of cloud-borne BC resulting in longer-range transport.

scholarly journals Radiative forcing of the direct aerosol effect from AeroCom Phase II simulations

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 22355-22413 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Myhre ◽  
B. H. Samset ◽  
M. Schulz ◽  
Y. Balkanski ◽  
S. Bauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Ii ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Organic Aerosols ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Aerosol Effect ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Aerosol Distribution ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Individual

Abstract. We report on the AeroCom Phase II direct aerosol effect (DAE) experiment where 15 detailed global aerosol models have been used to simulate the changes in the aerosol distribution over the industrial era. All 15 models have estimated the radiative forcing (RF) of the anthropogenic DAE, and have taken into account anthropogenic sulphate, black carbon (BC) and organic aerosols (OA) from fossil fuel, biofuel, and biomass burning emissions. In addition several models have simulated the DAE of anthropogenic nitrate and anthropogenic influenced secondary organic aerosols (SOA). The model simulated all-sky RF of the DAE from total anthropogenic aerosols has a range from −0.58 to −0.02 W m−2, with a mean of −0.30 W m−2 for the 15 models. Several models did not include nitrate or SOA and modifying the estimate by accounting for this with information from the other AeroCom models reduces the range and slightly strengthens the mean. Modifying the model estimates for missing aerosol components and for the time period 1750 to 2010 results in a mean RF for the DAE of −0.39 W m−2. Compared to AeroCom Phase I (Schulz et al., 2006) we find very similar spreads in both total DAE and aerosol component RF. However, the RF of the total DAE is stronger negative and RF from BC from fossil fuel and biofuel emissions are stronger positive in the present study than in the previous AeroCom study. We find a tendency for models having a strong (positive) BC RF to also have strong (negative) sulphate or OA RF. This relationship leads to smaller uncertainty in the total RF of the DAE compared to the RF of the sum of the individual aerosol components. The spread in results for the individual aerosol components is substantial, and can be divided into diversities in burden, mass extinction coefficient (MEC), and normalized RF with respect to AOD. We find that these three factors give similar contributions to the spread in results.

scholarly journals Aerosols at the Poles: An AeroCom Phase II multi-model evaluation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Sand ◽  
Bjørn H. Samset ◽  
Yves Balkanski ◽  
Susanne Bauer ◽  
Nicolas Bellouin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Ii ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Organic Aerosols ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Sea Salt ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosols from anthropogenic and natural sources reach the Polar Regions through long-range transport. Such transport is however poorly constrained in present day global climate models, and few multi-model evaluations of Polar anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing exist. Here we compare the aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm from simulations with 16 global aerosol models from the AeroCom phase II model inter-comparison project with available observations at both Poles. We show that the annual mean multi-model median is representative of the observations in Arctic, but that the inter-model spread is large. We also document the geographical distribution and seasonal cycle of the AOD for the individual aerosol species; black carbon (BC) from fossil fuel and biomass burning, sulfate, organic aerosols (OA), dust and sea-salt. For a subset of models that represent nitrate and secondary organic aerosols (SOA), we document the role of these aerosols at high latitudes. The seasonal dependence of natural and anthropogenic aerosols differs with natural aerosols peaking in the winter (sea-salt) and spring (dust), whereas AOD from anthropogenic aerosols peaks during late spring/summer. The models produce a median annual mean (AOD) of 0.07 in the Arctic (defined here as north of 60° N). The models also predict a noteworthy aerosol transport to the Antarctic (south of 70° S) with a resulting AOD varying between 0.01–0.02. The models have also estimated the shortwave anthropogenic radiative forcing contributions to the direct aerosol effect (DAE) associated with BC and OA from fossil fuel and biofuel (FF), sulfate, SOA, nitrate, and biomass burning from BC and OA emissions combined. The Arctic modeled annual mean DAE is slightly negative (−0.12 W m−2), dominated by a positive BC FF DAE during spring and a negative sulfate DAE during summer. The Antarctic DAE is governed by BC FF. We perform sensitivity experiments with one of the AeroCom models (GISS modelE) to investigate how regional emissions of BC and sulfate and the lifetime of BC influence the Arctic and Antarctic AOD. A doubling of emissions in East Asia, result in a 33 % increase in Arctic AOD of BC. However, radical changes such as reducing the e-folding lifetime by half or doubling it, still fall within the AeroCom model range.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document