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Global Measurements of Brown Carbon and Estimated Direct Radiative Effects
  • +12
  • Rodney J. Weber,
  • Linghan Zeng,
  • Aoxing Zhang,
  • Yuhang Wang,
  • Nicholas L. Wagner,
  • Joseph M. Katich,
  • Joshua Peter Schwarz,
  • Gregory P. Schill,
  • Charles A. Brock,
  • Karl Froyd,
  • Daniel M. Murphy,
  • Christina Williamson,
  • Agnieszka Kupc,
  • Eric Scheuer,
  • Jack E. Dibb
Rodney J. Weber
Georgia Institute Of technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Linghan Zeng
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Aoxing Zhang
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Yuhang Wang
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Nicholas L. Wagner
NOAA/ESRL/CSD
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Joseph M. Katich
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Joshua Peter Schwarz
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Gregory P. Schill
Earth System Research Laboratory
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Charles A. Brock
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Karl Froyd
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
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Daniel M. Murphy
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Christina Williamson
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Agnieszka Kupc
NOAA ESRL
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Eric Scheuer
University of New Hampshire-Durham
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Jack E. Dibb
University of New Hampshire
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Abstract

Brown carbon (BrC) is an organic aerosol material that preferentially absorbs light of shorter wavelengths. Global-scale radiative impacts of BrC have been difficult to assess due to the lack of BrC observational data. To address this, aerosol filters were continuously collected with near pole-to-pole latitudinal coverage over the Pacific and Atlantic basins in three seasons as part of the Atmospheric Tomography Mission. BrC chromophores in filter extracts were measured. We find that globally, BrC was highly spatially heterogeneous, mostly detected in air masses that had been transported from regions of extensive biomass burning. We calculate the average direct radiative effect due to BrC absorption accounted for approximately 7 to 48% of the top of the atmosphere clear sky instantaneous forcing by all absorbing carbonaceous aerosols in the remote atmosphere, indicating that BrC from biomass burning is an important component of the global radiative balance.