Sources and Sinks of Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Arctic in Spring
Abstract
We use a global three-dimensional model (GEOS-Chem) to interpret aircraft observations of organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) aerosols during the ARCTAS aircraft mission over the North American Arctic in spring 2008. The model generally reproduces the observed concentrations and vertical distributions of OC and BC, reflecting in part the implementation of an improved model parameterization for scavenging of aerosol by snow. We find that OC at all altitudes originated mainly from Russian biomass burning, which was particularly intense in April 2008. BC source attribution in the model indicates major contributions from both Russian biomass burning and Eurasian anthropogenic sources. Biomass burning influence is strongest in the mid-troposphere whereas anthropogenic influence is strongest near the surface. Correlations with sulfate and acetonitrile in the observations provide further information for separating biomass and anthropogenic sources of BC. We will discuss the implications for the origin of BC deposited to Arctic snow in spring.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.A41E..07W
- Keywords:
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- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0368 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry