An analysis of black carbon in the northern Pacific
Abstract
The global atmosphere is a common resource that is not contained within political boundaries. Emissions of climate forcing agents are increasing at a rapid pace and, in coming decades, there will undoubtedly be heightened interest in understanding transnational and transoceanic transport of pollutants. The HIPPO mission, due to its continuous vertical profiling in the remote Pacific, has the potential to speak to these issues in an unprecedented way. Here we discuss northern hemisphere loadings of black carbon (BC) aerosol observed during HIPPO using a single particle soot photometer (SP2). Seasonal and latitudinal variability in BC loading and microphysical state (i.e. particle size and coating state) is discussed. Instantaneous fluxes of BC and CO are calculated and compared to previously published BC-CO correlations in source regions. Back trajectories are used to assess geographic contributions to the observed instantaneous fluxes.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.A32A..04P
- Keywords:
-
- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0322 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Constituent sources and sinks;
- 0345 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Pollution: urban and regional;
- 0368 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry