Black carbon aerosol (BC) has emerged as a major contributor to global climate change, only second to CO2 as the main driver of the global warming.
Black carbon aerosol (BC) has emerged as a major contributor to global climate change, only second to CO2 as the main driver of the global warming. BC is from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass. By strongly absorbing solar radiation, BC can heat the atmosphere, affect its stability, further deteriorating air quality. The climatic and environmental effects of BC were determined by its loading in the atmosphere and scientists found its impacts could be also importantly affected by its microphysical characteristics such as particle size and mixing state.
Dr. WU Yunfei, with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, conducted long-term observations of BC loading and microphysical properties in urban Beijing, by using a single-particle soot photometer (SP2). In a recent study published in Environmental Pollution, he and his collaborators reported temporal variations of BC loading and microphysical properties.
Read more at Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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