A study of the mixing state of black carbon in urban zone

Abstract

The knowledge of the mixing state of black carbon particle with other aerosol species is critical for adequate simulations of the direct radiative effect of black carbon particles and its effect on climate. This paper reports the investigation of the mixing state of black carbon aerosol in the urban zone. The study uses a combination of in situ and ground-based remote sensing observations conducted during the ESCOMPTE experiment, which took place in industrialized region in France in summer of 2001. The criteria we used for identifying mixing state relies on the known enhancement of absorption for aerosol composed by internal versus external mixtures of black carbon with weakly absorbing aerosol components. First, using in situ aerosol data, we performed Mie computations and reconstructed the single scattering albedo of aerosol for the two different mixing assumptions: black carbon mixed externally or internally with other aerosol species. Then, we compared the obtained values Ωo,int and Ωo,ext with the retrievals of Ωo from independent AERONET Sun-photometric measurements. The aerosol single scattering albedo (Ωo,aer.) derived from the AERONET photometer observations (with the mean value equal to 0.84 ± 0.04 was found to be close to Ωo.ext reconstructed from in situ observation under assumptions of external mixture. This similarity between AERONET values and external mixture simulations was observed during all the days studied. Our conclusion on external mixture of black carbon aerosol with other particles in urban zone during ESCOMPTE (close to the pollution source) is coherent with observations made during other independent studies reported in a number of recent publications. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.