Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong circum-Arctic warming

Yue, Siyao; Zhu, Jialei; Chen, Shuang; Xie, Qiaorong; Li, Wei; Ren, Hong; Su, Sihui; Li, Ping; Ma, Hao; Fan, Yanbing; Cheng, Borong; Wu, Liguang; Deng, Junjun; Hu, Wei; Ren, Lujie; Wei, Lianfang; Zhao, Wanyu; Tian, Yu; Pan, Xiaole; Shrivastava, Manish; Wang, Zifa; Wu, Fengchang; Liu, Cong‐Qiang; Su, Hang; Penner, Joyce E.; Pöschl, Ulrich; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Cheng, Yafang; Fu, Pingqing

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2022.02.006

Cited by 43 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…(criteria shown in Table S2). − In general, the two biomass-burning BrCs exhibited a similar class distribution, while SRFA and PM2.5 differed substantially from biomass-burning BrC (Figure e). SRFA contained more aromatic structures (10% for SRFA vs <4% for the others), while PM2.5 is enriched with saturated components like aliphatics and carbonyls (24% for PM2.5 vs <7% for the others), which may be related to the formation of charge transfer complexes (discussed as follows).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase

Lei,

Tian

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The NO 3 • -driven nighttime aging of brown carbon (BrC) is known to greatly impact its atmospheric radiative forcing. However, the impact of oxidation by NO 3• on the optical properties of BrC in atmospheric waters as well as the associated reaction mechanism remain unclear. In this work, we found that the optical variation of BrC proxies under environmentally relevant NO 3• exposure depends strongly on their sources, with enhanced light absorptivity for biomass-burning BrC but bleaching for urban aerosols and humic substances. High-resolution mass spectrometry using FT-ICR MS shows that oxidation by NO 3• leads to the formation of light-absorbing species (e.g., nitrated organics) for biomass-burning BrC while destroying electron donors (e.g., phenols) within charge transfer complexes in urban aerosols and humic substances, as evidenced by transient absorption spectroscopy and NaBH 4 reduction experiments as well. Moreover, we found that the measured rate constants between NO 3• with real BrCs (k = (1.8 ± 0.6) × 10 7 M C −1 s −1 , expressed as moles of carbon) are much higher than those of individual model organic carbon (OC), suggesting the reaction with OCs may be a previously illquantified important sink of NO 3• in atmospheric waters. This work provides insights into the kinetics and molecular transformation of BrC during the oxidation by NO 3 • , facilitating further evaluation of BrC's climatic effects and atmospheric NO 3• levels.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase

Lei,

Tian

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…However, this would not solve acidification of the Arctic Ocean and would very likely disrupt global agriculture while exacerbating the Arctic ozone hole (Tilmes et al, 2008;Proctor et al, 2018;Zarnetske et al, 2021). Likewise, converting portions of the Boreal forest for BECCS could decrease local ecosystem carbon storage while producing pollution that would harm public health and create substantial regional warming from black and brown carbon deposition (Hanssen et al, 2020;Calì Quaglia et al, 2022;Yue et al, 2022). Additionally, many of these proposed solutions may be ineffective or counterproductive in the new conditions created by anthropogenic climate change.…”

Section: What Can We Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems

Abbott

Brown²,

Carey

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO2, the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions.

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“…Yet, biomass burning particles also play a central role in atmospheric processes (Crutzen and Andreae, 1990;Andreae et al, 1994;Sokolik et al, 2019). For instance, they can affect the hydrological cycle and climate directly, through the absorption and scattering of light, and indirectly, when acting as cloud nuclei, affecting precipitation formation and cloud microphysical properties, with important ramifications for the regional and global energy budget (Bond et al, 2013;Bond and Bergstrom, 2006;Penner et al, 1992;Chylek and Wong, 1995;Koren et al, 2004;Kaufman and Koren, 2006;Kaufman and Fraser, 1997;Ditas et al, 2018;Yue et al, 2022). Despite the surge in the emissions of biomass burning particles and their importance for climate, their aerosolcloud interactions, in particular their ability to act as icenucleating particles (INPs;Vali et al, 2015), remain associated with large uncertainties (Bond et al, 2013;Sokolik et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions

et al. 2023

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Abstract. Atmospheric aerosol particles play a key role in air pollution, health, and climate. Particles from biomass burning emissions are an important source of ambient aerosols, have increased over the past few decades, and are projected to further surge in the future as a result of climate and land use changes. Largely as a result of the variety of organic fuel materials and combustion types, particles emitted from biomass burning are often complex mixtures of inorganic and organic materials, with soot, ash, and charcoal having previously been identified as main particle types being emitted. Despite their importance for climate, their ice nucleation activities remain insufficiently understood, in particular for charcoal particles, whose ice nucleation activity has not been reported. Here, we present experiments of the ice nucleation activities of 400 nm size-selected charcoal particles, derived from the pyrolysis of two different biomass fuels, namely a grass charcoal and a wood charcoal. We find that the pyrolysis-derived charcoal types investigated do not contribute to ice formation via immersion freezing in mixed-phase cloud conditions. However, our results reveal considerable heterogeneous ice nucleation activity of both charcoal types at cirrus temperatures. An inspection of the ice nucleation results together with dynamic vapor sorption measurements indicates that cirrus ice formation proceeds via pore condensation and freezing. We find wood charcoal to be more ice-active than grass charcoal at cirrus temperatures. We attribute this to the enhanced porosity and water uptake capacity of the wood compared to the grass charcoal. In support of the results, we found a positive correlation of the ice nucleation activity of the wood charcoal particles and their chemical composition, specifically the presence of (inorganic) mineral components, based on single-particle mass spectrometry measurements. Even though correlational in nature, our results corroborate recent findings that ice-active minerals could largely govern the aerosol–cloud interactions of particles emitted from biomass burning emissions.

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Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong circum-Arctic warming

Cited by 43 publications

References 88 publications

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase

We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems

Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions

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Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong circum-Arctic warming

Cited by 43 publications

References 88 publications

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO3• in the Aqueous Phase

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO3• in the Aqueous Phase

We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems

Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions

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Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase

Optical Variation and Molecular Transformation of Brown Carbon During Oxidation by NO₃^• in the Aqueous Phase