Pole-to-Pole Observations of Long-Range Transport of Black Carbon Aerosol
Abstract
Efforts are now underway to expand global measurements of black carbon (BC) aerosol mass loadings to better assess the impact of fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning sources of BC on global air quality and climate. Understanding the processes controlling BC aerosol in the atmosphere is necessary to constrain transport and microphysics in global aerosol models, evaluate climate impacts, and develop mitigation strategies. Yet measurements of BC above the surface have been very limited until recently and measurement-model comparisons of BC often show large discrepancies. Recent measurements from the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) study add new insight into the global distribution of BC and greenhouse gas species at finer spatial resolution than obtainable from satellite measurements with the goal of assessing emissions, transport timescales, and removal processes. The HIPPO campaigns include over 140 vertical profiles in the remote Pacific and polar regions from 0.3 to as high as 14 km altitude in each of three missions covering three seasons between 85°N and 67°S latitude. In the Arctic, highlights include observations of persistent stratified pollution from boreal autumn through spring. In the northern Pacific midlatitudes and subtropics, very polluted conditions were encountered over a deep portion of the troposphere with BC mass loadings varying between 100 and 1000 ng/kg in large-scale plumes from anthropogenic and biomass burning sources in Asia in boreal spring. Some of the first airborne observations of BC mass in the southern hemisphere show large interhemispheric gradients in boreal spring.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.A32C..06S
- Keywords:
-
- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0345 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Pollution: urban and regional;
- 0365 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Troposphere: composition and chemistry;
- 0368 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry