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Black Carbon Reflects Extremely Efficient Aerosol Wet Removal in Monsoonal Convective Transport
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  • Joseph Berberich,
  • Stephanie A. Jacoby,
  • Georgia Michailoudi,
  • Joshua Peter Schwarz,
  • Silvia Viciani,
  • Francesco D'Amato,
  • Giovanni Bianchini,
  • Marco Barucci,
  • Teresa L Campos,
  • Kirk Ullmann,
  • James R. Podolske,
  • Colin Gurganus,
  • Warren P Smith,
  • Rei Ueyama,
  • Shawn Honomichl,
  • Laura L Pan,
  • Sarah Woods,
  • Bernadett Weinzierl,
  • Maximilian Dollner,
  • Anne Perring
Joseph Berberich
University of Michigan
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Stephanie A. Jacoby
University of Maryland
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Georgia Michailoudi
NOAA ESRL CSL
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Joshua Peter Schwarz
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
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Silvia Viciani
CNR-INO National Institute of Optics
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Francesco D'Amato
CNR - Istituto Nazionale di Ottica
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Giovanni Bianchini
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO-CNR)
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Marco Barucci
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica
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Teresa L Campos
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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Kirk Ullmann
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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James R. Podolske
NASA Ames Research Center
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Colin Gurganus
NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory 325 Broadway R/CSL
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Warren P Smith
NCAR
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Rei Ueyama
NASA Ames Research Center
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Shawn Honomichl
National Center for Atmospheric Research
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Laura L Pan
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
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Sarah Woods
SPEC Inc.
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Bernadett Weinzierl
University of Vienna
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Maximilian Dollner
University of Vienna
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Anne Perring
Colgate University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Refractory black carbon (rBC) is a primary aerosol species, produced through incomplete combustion, that absorbs sunlight and contributes to positive radiative forcing. The overall climate effect of rBC depends on its spatial distribution and atmospheric lifetime, both of which are impacted by the efficiency with which rBC is transported or removed by convective systems. These processes are poorly constrained by observations. It is especially interesting to investigate rBC transport efficiency through the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) since this meteorological pattern delivers vast quantities of boundary layer air from Asia, where rBC emissions are high, to the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) where the lifetime of rBC is expected to be long. Here we present in-situ observations of rBC made during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemistry and Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP) of summer, 2022. We use observed relationships between rBC and CO in ASM outflow to show that rBC is removed nearly completely (>98%) from uplifted air, and that rBC concentrations in ASM outflow are statistically indistinguishable from the UT/LS background. We compare observed rBC and CO concentrations to those expected based on two chemical transport models and find that the models reproduce CO to within a factor of 2 at all altitudes while rBC is overpredicted by a factor of 20-100 at altitudes associated with ASM outflow. We find that the rBC particles in recently convected air have thinner coatings than those found in the UTLS background, suggesting non-zero transport of rBC number that is not relevant to concentration.
21 Oct 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
21 Oct 2024Published in ESS Open Archive