title: Source forensics of black carbon aerosols from China.
abstract: The limited understanding of black carbon (BC) aerosol emissions from incomplete combustion causes a poorly constrained anthropogenic climate warming that globally may be second only to CO2 and regionally, such as over East Asia, the dominant driver of climate change. The relative contribution to atmospheric BC from fossil fuel versus biomass combustion is important to constrain as fossil BC is a stronger climate forcer. The source apportionment is the underpinning for targeted mitigation actions. However, technology-based "bottom-up" emission inventories are inconclusive, largely due to uncertain BC emission factors from small-scale/household combustion and open burning. We use "top-down" radiocarbon measurements of atmospheric BC from five sites including three city sites and two regional sites to determine that fossil fuel combustion produces 80 ± 6% of the BC emitted from China. This source-diagnostic radiocarbon signal in the ambient aerosol over East Asia establishes a much larger role for fossil fuel combustion than suggested by all 15 BC emission inventory models, including one with monthly resolution. Our results suggest that current climate modeling should refine both BC emission strength and consider the stronger radiative absorption associated with fossil-fuel-derived BC. To mitigate near-term climate effects and improve air quality in East Asia, activities such as residential coal combustion and city traffic should be targeted.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: August
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Meehye
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Elena N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Kirillova
authors.forename: Qianfen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kruså
authors.forename: Meinan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Streets
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Örjan
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D044707:Forensic Sciences
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D002244:Carbon