ABSTRACT
The spectral dependence of light absorption by atmospheric particulate matter has major implications for air quality and climate forcing, but remains uncertain especially in tropical areas with extensive biomass burning. In the September-October 2007 biomass-burning season in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, we studied light absorbing (chromophoric) organic or "brown" carbon (BrC) with surface and space-based remote sensing. We found that BrC has negligible absorption at visible wavelengths, but significant absorption and strong spectral dependence at UV wavelengths. Using the ground-based inversion of column effective imaginary refractive index in the range 305-368 nm, we quantified a strong spectral dependence of absorption by BrC in the UV and diminished ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation reaching the surface. Reduced UV-B means less erythema, plant damage, and slower photolysis rates. We use a photochemical box model to show that relative to black carbon (BC) alone, the combined optical properties of BrC and BC slow the net rate of production of ozone by up to 18% and lead to reduced concentrations of radicals OH, HO2, and RO2 by up to 17%, 15%, and 14%, respectively. The optical properties of BrC aerosol change in subtle ways the generally adverse effects of smoke from biomass burning.
ABSTRACT
Global (direct+diffuse) spectral ultraviolet (UV, 290-363nm) and total ozone measurements made on the roof of the Main Science Building, Yonsei University at Seoul (37.57°, 128.98°E) were analyzed to quantify the effects of ozone and aerosol on the variability of surface erythemal UV (EUV) irradiance. The measurements have been made with a Brewer Spectrophotometer MKIV (SCI-TEC#148) and a Dobson Ozone Spectrophotometer (Beck#123), respectively, during 2004-2008. The overall mean radiation amplification factor, RAF(AOD, SZA) [23,24] due to total ozone (O(3)) (hereafter O(3) RAF) shows that 1% decrease in total ozone results in an increase of 1.18±0.02% in the EUV irradiance with the range of 0.67-1.74% depending on solar zenith angles (SZAs) (40-70°) and on aerosol optical depths (AODs) (<4.0), under both clear (cloud cover<25%) and all sky conditions. For the mean AOD, the O(3) RAFs(SZA) for both sky conditions increased as SZA increased from 40° to 60°, and then decreased for higher SZA 70°, where the patterns are consistent with results of the previous studies [2,10]. A similar analysis of the RAF(O(3), SZA) due to AOD (hereafter AOD RAF) under clear and all-sky conditions shows that on average, a 1% increase in AOD forces a decrease of 0.29±0.06% in the EUV irradiance with the maximum range 0.18-0.63% depending on SZAs and O(3). Thus, overall sensitivity of UV to ozone (O(3), RAF) was estimated to be about four times higher than to the aerosol (AOD RAF). At the mean O(3), the AOD RAFs(SZA) for both skies appears to be almost independent of SZAs. It is shown that the O(3) RAFs are nearly independent of the sky conditions, whereas the AOD RAFs depend distinctly on the sky conditions with the larger values for all skies. Under cloud free conditions, the overall mean ratio for measured-to-modeled O(3), RAF(AOD, SZA) is 1.13, whereas the ratio for AOD RAF(O(3), SZA) shows 0.82 in the EUV irradiance. Overall, the RAF measurements are corroborated by radiative transfer model calculations under clear-sky conditions.
