Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment
Tami C. Bond,Sarah J. Doherty,David W. Fahey,Piers M. Forster,Terje Koren Berntsen,Benjamin DeAngelo,Mark Flanner,Steven J. Ghan,Bernd Kärcher,Dorothy Koch,Stefan Kinne,Yutaka Kondo,Patricia K. Quinn,Marcus C. Sarofim,Martin G. Schultz,Michael Schulz,Chandra Venkataraman,Hua Zhang,Shiqiu Zhang,Nicolas Bellouin,Sarath K. Guttikunda,Philip K. Hopke,Mark Z. Jacobson,Johannes W. Kaiser,Zbigniew Klimont,Ulrike Lohmann,Joshua P. Schwarz,Drew Shindell,Trude Storelvmo,Stephen G. Warren,Charles S. Zender +30 more
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors provided an assessment of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice.Abstract:
Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related, namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom-up inventory methods are 7500 Gg yr−1 in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models and should be increased by a factor of almost 3. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial-era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27) W m−2. Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the preindustrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W m−2. Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial-era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W m−2. Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co-emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W m−2, is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate forcing in the present-day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short-lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co-emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of short-lived co-emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy-related sources (fossil fuel and biofuel) have an industrial-era climate forcing of +0.22 (−0.50 to +1.08) W m−2 during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all short-lived emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing (i.e., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial-era climate forcing by all short-lived species from black-carbon-rich sources becomes slightly negative (−0.06 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of −1.45 to +1.29 W m−2). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black-carbon-rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co-emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black-carbon mitigation actions, non-science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near-term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black-carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.read more
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Carbonaceous matter in the atmosphere and glaciers of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau: An investigative review.
Chaoliu Li,Fangping Yan,Fangping Yan,Shichang Kang,Caiqing Yan,Zhaofu Hu,Pengfei Chen,Shaopeng Gao,Chao Zhang,Cenlin He,Susan Kaspari,Aron Stubbins +11 more
TL;DR: Analysis of water-insoluable organic carbon and BC from snowpits reveals that concentrations of OC and BC in the atmosphere and glacier samples in arid regions of the HTP may be overestimated due to contributions from inorganic carbon in mineral dust.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biocoal Briquettes Combusted in a Household Cooking Stove: Improved Thermal Efficiencies and Reduced Pollutant Emissions
TL;DR: Results indicated that biocoal briquettes can serve as a promising substitute for domestic solid fuel to reduce pollutant emissions and save energy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Distribution of light-absorbing impurities in snow of glacier on Mt. Yulong, southeastern Tibetan Plateau
Hewen Niu,Hewen Niu,Shichang Kang,Shichang Kang,Yulan Zhang,Xiaoyi Shi,Xiaofei Shi,Shijin Wang,Gang Li,Xingguo Yan,Tao Pu,Yuanqing He +11 more
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of ILAIs on glacier albedo and associated radiative forcing were investigated using the SNow ICe Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) model.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reducing black carbon emissions from diesel vehicles in Russia: An assessment and policy recommendations
Nazar Kholod,Meredydd Evans +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assessed options and challenges of reducing black carbon emissions from diesel vehicles in Russia, and provided a number of policy recommendations for reducing emissions from Russian diesel sources.
Journal ArticleDOI
Deposition and light absorption characteristics of precipitation dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at three remote stations in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, China
Chaoliu Li,Chaoliu Li,Chaoliu Li,Fangping Yan,Shichang Kang,Pengfei Chen,Zhaofu Hu,Xiaowen Han,Guoshuai Zhang,Shaopeng Gao,Bin Qu,Mika Sillanpää +11 more
TL;DR: The concentrations, depositions and optical properties of precipitation DOC at three remote stations (Nam Co, Lulang and Everest) were investigated in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, indicating large spatial heterogeneity in the sources of precipitationDOC over the HTP.
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