Shortwave radiative impact of liquid-liquid phase separation in brown carbon aerosols

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosol particles may undergo liquid.liquid phase separation (LLPS) when exposed to varying relative humidity. In this study, we model how the change in morphology affects the shortwave radiative forcing, in particular for particles containing organic carbon as a molecular absorber, often termed gbrown carbonh (BrC). Preferentially, such an absorber will redistribute to the organic phase after LLPS.We limited our investigation to particle diameters between 0.04 and 0.5 Êm, atmospherically relevant organic-to-inorganic mass ratios typical for aged aerosol (1 V 4