Quantifying evolution of soot mixing state from transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions
Xiyao Chen,
Chunxiang Ye,
Yuanyuan Wang,
Zhijun Wu,
Tong Zhu,
Fan Zhang,
Xiaokun Ding,
Zongbo Shi,
Zhonghua Zheng,
Weijun Li
Affiliations
Xiyao Chen
Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Chunxiang Ye
College Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Yuanyuan Wang
Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Zhijun Wu
College Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Tong Zhu
College Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Fan Zhang
Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Xiaokun Ding
Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Zongbo Shi
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Zhonghua Zheng
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Weijun Li
Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass burning emit large amounts of soot particles into the troposphere. The condensation process is considered to influence the size (Dp) and mixing state of soot particles, which affects their solar absorption efficiency and lifetimes. However, quantifying aging evolution of soot remains hampered in the real world because of complicated sources and observation technologies. In the Himalayas, we isolated soot sourced from transboundary transport of biomass burning and revealed soot aging mechanisms through microscopic observations. Most of coated soot particles stabilized one soot core under Dp < 400 nm, but 34.8% of them contained multi-soot cores (nsoot ≥ 2) and nsoot increased 3–9 times with increasing Dp. We established the soot mixing models to quantify transformation from condensation- to coagulation-dominant regime at Dp ≈ 400 nm. Studies provide essential references for adopting mixing rules and quantifying the optical absorption of soot in atmospheric models.
