Abstract
The radiative forcing of soot is dependent on the morphology, mixing state and structure. Cloud processing has been predicted to affect their mixing properties but little is known about the resulting light absorption properties. We collected ambient particles in the pre-cloud period, the cloud residues and interstitials in the in-cloud period at Mt. Tianjing (southern China). The morphology parameters of soot aggregates with varying mixing materials [sulfate (S) and organics (OM)] and mixing structures were investigated by a transmission electron microscope, and their absorption cross section were calculated based on discrete dipole approximation. We found that the number contribution of soot-S decreased from 45% in the pre-cloud period to 32% in the in-cloud period, and that of soot-OM increased from 44% to 60%. Moreover, the number proportion of soot-OM with fully embedded structure increased remarkably in the in-cloud period (29%), compared with that in the pre-cloud period (3%). In addition, the soot-S aggregates became denser after in-cloud aqueous process. However, for soot-OM aggregates, the morphology remained relatively constant. The distinctly different change of soot-S and soot-OM in morphology highlights the chemically resolved reconstruction of soot morphology. Theoretical calculation further shows that the changes of soot particles in the mixing state and morphological characteristics by the cloud process resulted in the light absorption enhancement increase from 1.57 to 2.01. This study highlights that the evolution of microphysical properties upon cloud processing should also be considered in climate models to more accurately evaluate the impacts of soot particles.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2022JD037169 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
Volume | 127 |
Issue number | 21 |
Early online date | 23 Oct 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 16 Nov 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2019B151502022), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42192514, 42077322, and 41877307), Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2021354), and Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (2020B1212060053).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
- absorption enhancement
- cloud process
- mixing material
- mixing structure
- morphology
- soot
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics
- Atmospheric Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Space and Planetary Science