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Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing

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Chakrabarty, Rajan K., Gyawali, Madhu, Yatavelli, Reddy L. N., Pandey, Apoorva, Watts, Adam C., Knue, Joseph, Chen, Lung-Wen A., Pattison, Robert R., Tsibart, Anna, Samburova, Vera, Moosmüller, Hans·2016·Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
DOI 10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016

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Abstract

The surface air warming over the Arctic has been almost twice as much as the global average in recent decades. In this region, unprecedented amounts of smoldering peat fires have been identified as a major emission source of climate-warming agents. While much is known about greenhouse gas emissions from these fires, there is a knowledge gap on the nature of particulate emissions and their potential role in atmospheric warming. Here, we show that aerosols emitted from burning of Alaskan and Siberian peatlands are predominantly brown carbon (BrC) – a class of visible light-absorbing organic carbon (OC) – with a negligible amount of black carbon content. The mean fuel-based emission factors for OC aerosols ranged from 3.8 to 16.6 g kg −1 . Their mass absorption efficiencies were in the range of 0.2–0.8 m 2 g −1 at 405 nm (violet) and dropped sharply to 0.03–0.07 m 2 g −1 at 532 nm (green), characterized by a mean Ångström exponent of ≈ 9. Electron microscopy images of the particles revealed their morphologies to be either single sphere or agglomerated “tar balls”. The shortwave top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing per unit optical depth under clear-sky conditions was estimated as a function of surface albedo. Only over bright surfaces with albedo greater than 0.6, such as snow cover and low-level clouds, the emitted aerosols could result in a net warming (positive forcing) of the atmosphere.

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Metadata

Authors
Chakrabarty, R. K., Gyawali, M., Yatavelli, R. L. N., Pandey, A., Watts, A. C., Knue, J., Chen, L.-W. A., Pattison, R. R., Tsibart, A., Samburova, V., & Moosmüller, H.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Desert Research Institute (US)
  • California Air Resources Board (US)
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
  • US Forest Service (US)
  • Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU)
Corresponding author
  • Chakrabarty, Rajan K.
  • Gyawali, Madhu
  • Yatavelli, Reddy L. N.
  • Pandey, Apoorva
  • Watts, Adam C.
  • Knue, Joseph
  • Chen, Lung-Wen A.
  • Pattison, Robert R.
  • Tsibart, Anna
  • Samburova, Vera
  • Moosmüller, Hans
ORCID
Venue
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Published
2016-03-09
Volume
16
Issue
5
Pages
3033-3040
ISSN
  • 1680-7316 (ISSN-L)
  • 1680-7324
DOI
10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016
OpenAlex
W2294297354
Cited by
145
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 7
FWCI
11.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Atmospheric chemistry and physics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX15AI66G, NNX15AI48G)
  • Directorate for Geosciences (AGS1455215, DEB1342094, DEB1354482)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
Keywords
brown carbon, peatland fires, organic carbon aerosols, mass absorption efficiency, emission factors, tar balls, aerosol microphysical properties, direct radiative forcing, Arctic warming, black carbon, surface albedo, Siberia, Alaska

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016
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Chakrabarty, R. K., Gyawali, M., Yatavelli, R. L. N., Pandey, A., Watts, A. C., Knue, J., Chen, L.-W. A., Pattison, R. R., Tsibart, A., Samburova, V., & Moosmüller, H. (2016). Brown carbon aerosols from burning of boreal peatlands: microphysical properties, emission factors, and implications for direct radiative forcing. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3033-2016