Incandescence-based single-particle method for black carbon quantification in lake sediment cores

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 711-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Chellman ◽  
J. R. McConnell ◽  
A. Heyvaert ◽  
B. Vannière ◽  
M. M. Arienzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Particle Method

scholarly journals APCC Data Report I: Black carbon and organic carbon dataset from atmosphere, glaciers, snow cover, precipitation, and lake sediment cores over the Third Pole

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shichang Kang ◽  
Yulan Zhang ◽  
Pengfei Chen ◽  
Junming Guo ◽  
Qianggong Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutants ◽  
The Third ◽  
Cryospheric Change

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and its surroundings, known as the Third Pole, play an important role in the regional and global climate and hydrological cycle. Carbonaceous aerosols (CAs), including black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), can directly/indirectly absorb and scatter solar radiation, and change the energy balance on Earth. CAs, along with other atmospheric pollutants (e.g., mercury), can frequently be transported over long distances into the inland TP. During the last decade, a coordinated monitoring network and research program on Atmospheric Pollution and Cryospheric Change (APCC) has been gradually setup and continuously operated within the Third Pole regions to investigate the linkage between atmospheric pollutants and cryospheric change. This paper presents a systematic dataset of BC, OC, water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and water insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) from aerosols (19 stations), glaciers (17 glaciers, including samples from surface snow/ice, snowpit, and two ice cores), snow cover (2 stations continuous observed, and 138 sites surveyed), precipitation (6 stations), and lake sediment cores (7 lakes) collected across the TP and its surroundings, as the first dataset released from this APCC program. These data were created based on online (in-situ) and laboratory measurements. High-resolution (daily scale) atmospheric equivalent BC (eBC) concentrations were obtained by using an aethalometer (AE-33) in the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma) region, which can provide a new insight into the mechanism of BC transportation over the Himalayas. Spatial distributions of BC, OC, WSOC and WIOC from aerosols, glaciers, snow cover, and precipitation indicated different features among the different regions of the TP, which were mostly influenced by emission sources, transport, and deposition processes. Several hundred years of refractory BC (rBC) records from ice cores and BC from lake sediment cores revealed the strength of human activities since the industrial revolution. BC isotopes from glaciers and aerosols identified the relative contributions of biomass and fossil fuel combustion to BC deposition on the Himalayas and TP. Mass absorption cross section of BC and WSOC from aerosol, glaciers, snow cover, and precipitation samples were also provided. This updated dataset is released to the scientific communities focusing on atmospheric science, cryospheric science, hydrology, climatology and environmental science. The related datasets are presented in the form of excel files. These files are available to download from the State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences at Lanzhou  (https://doi.org/10.12072/ncdc.NIEER.db0114.2021, Kang and Zhang, 2021). In the future, datasets of mercury, heavy metals, and POPs will be reported.

scholarly journals Assessing recent measurement techniques for quantifying black carbon concentration in snow

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 3771-3795 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Schwarz ◽  
S. J. Doherty ◽  
F. Li ◽  
S. T. Ruggiero ◽  
C. E. Tanner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Carbon Concentration ◽  
Mass Concentration ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Integrating Sphere ◽  
Recent Measurement ◽  
Atmospheric Sampling ◽  
Careful Assessment ◽  
Snow Samples

Abstract. We evaluate the performance of the Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) and the Integrating Sphere/Integrating Sandwich Spectrophotometer (ISSW) in quantifying the concentration of refractory black carbon (BC) in snow samples. We find that the SP2 can be used to measure BC mass concentration in snow with substantially larger uncertainty (60%) than for atmospheric sampling (<30%). Achieving this level of accuracy requires careful assessment of nebulizer performance and SP2 calibration with consideration of the fact that BC in snow tends to larger sizes than typically observed in the atmosphere. Once these issues are addressed, the SP2 is able to measure the size distribution and mass concentration of BC in the snow. Laboratory comparison of the SP2 and the Integrating Sphere/Integrating Sandwich Spectrophotometer (ISSW) revealed significant biases in the estimate of BC concentration from the ISSW when test samples contained dust or non-absorbing particulates. These results suggest that current estimates of BC mass concentration in snow and ice using either the SP2 or the ISSW may be associated with significant underestimates of uncertainty.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of the Single Particle Soot Photometer to different black carbon types

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Laborde ◽  
P. Mertes ◽  
P. Zieger ◽  
J. Dommen ◽  
U. Baltensperger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Diesel Exhaust ◽  
Mass Analyzer ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Radiative Balance ◽  
Ambient Particles ◽  
Fullerene Soot ◽  
Wood Burning ◽  
Incomplete Removal

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) is now mainly of anthropogenic origin. It is the dominant light absorbing component of atmospheric aerosols, playing an important role in the earth's radiative balance and therefore relevant to climate change studies. In addition, BC is known to be harmful to human beings making it relevant to policy makers. Nevertheless, the measurement of BC remains biased by the instrument-based definition of BC. The Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), allows the measurement of the refractory BC (rBC) mass of individual particles using laser-induced incandescence. However, the SP2 needs an empirical calibration to retrieve the rBC mass from the incandescence signal and the sensitivity of the SP2 differs between different BC types. Ideally, for atmospheric studies, the SP2 should be calibrated using ambient particles containing a known mass of ambient rBC. However, such "ambient BC" calibration particles cannot easily be obtained and thus commercially available BC particles are commonly used for SP2 calibration instead. In this study we tested the sensitivity of the SP2 to different BC types in order to characterize the potential error introduced by using non-ambient BC for calibration. The sensitivity of the SP2 was determined, using an aerosol particle mass analyzer, for rBC from thermodenuded diesel exhaust, wood burning exhaust and ambient particles as well as for commercially available products: Aquadag® and fullerene soot. Thermodenuded, fresh diesel exhaust has been found to be ideal for SP2 calibration for two reasons. First, the small amount of non-BC matter upon emission reduces the risk of bias due to incomplete removal of non-BC matter and second, it is considered to represent atmospheric rBC in urban locations where diesel exhaust is the main source of BC. The SP2 was found to be up to 16% less sensitive to rBC from thermodenuded ambient particles (≤15 fg) than rBC from diesel exhaust, however, at least part of this difference can be explained by incomplete removal of non-refractory components in the thermodenuder. The amount of remaining non-refractory matter was estimated to be below 30% by mass, according to a comparison of the scattering cross sections of the whole particles with that of the pure BC cores. The SP2 sensitivity to rBC from wood burning exhaust agrees with the SP2 sensitivity to rBC from diesel exhaust within an error of less than 14% (≤40 fg). If, due to experimental restrictions, diesel exhaust cannot be used, untreated fullerene soot was found to give an SP2 calibration curve similar to diesel exhaust and ambient rBC (within ±10% for a rBC mass ≤15 fg) and is therefore recommended although two different batches differed by ~14% between themselves. In addition, the SP2 was found to be up to 40% more sensitive to Aquadag® than to diesel exhaust rBC. Therefore Aquadag® cannot be recommended for atmospheric application without accounting for the sensitivity difference. These findings for fullerene soot and Aquadag® confirm results from previous literature.

The History of Human Impacts in the Clear Lake Watershed ( California) as Deduced from Lake Sediment Cores*

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Nelson ◽  
Alan Heyvaert ◽  
Laurent Meillier ◽  
Jae Kim ◽  
Xiaoping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Clear Lake ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals The single-particle mixing state and cloud scavenging of black carbon at a high-altitude mountain site in southern China

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guohua Zhang ◽  
Qinhao Lin ◽  
Long Peng ◽  
Xinhui Bi ◽  
Duohong Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Mixing State ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Mountain Site ◽  
Cloud Scavenging ◽  
Scavenging Efficiency

Abstract. In the present study, a ground-based counterflow virtual impactor (GCVI) was used to sample cloud droplet residual (cloud RES) particles, while a parallel PM2.5 inlet was used to sample cloud-free or cloud interstitial (cloud INT) particles. The mixing state of black carbon (BC)-containing particles in a size range of 0.1–1.6 µm and the mass concentrations of BC in the cloud-free, RES and INT particles were investigated using a single particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPAMS) and two aethalometers, respectively, at a mountain site (1690 m a.s.l.) in southern China. The measured BC-containing particles were internally mixed extensively with sulfate, and were activated into cloud droplets to the same extent as all the measured particles. The results indicate the preferential activation of larger particles and/or that the production of secondary compositions shifts the BC-containing particles towards larger sizes. BC-containing particles with an abundance of both sulfate and organics were activated less than those with sulfate but limited organics, implying the importance of the mixing state on the incorporation of BC-containing particles into cloud droplets. The mass scavenging efficiency of BC with an average of 33 % was similar for different cloud events independent of the air mass. This is the first time that both the mixing state and cloud scavenging of BC in China have been reported. Since limited information on BC-containing particles in the free troposphere is available, the results also provide an important reference for the representation of BC concentrations, properties, and climate impacts in modeling studies.

Black carbon aerosol characterization in a coastal city in South China using a single particle soot photometer

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Feng Huang ◽  
Tian-Le Sun ◽  
Li-Wu Zeng ◽  
Guang-He Yu ◽  
Sheng-Ji Luan
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
South China ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Coastal City ◽  
Black Carbon Aerosol ◽  
Aerosol Characterization
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