Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The climatology and trend of black carbon in China from 12-year ground observations

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) is one of the most important climate pollutants due to its strong positive radiative forcing on the climate system. However, long-term observation of BC is inadequate, and its trend remains unknown at both regional and global scales. In this study, using quality-controlled ground-based black carbon observations at 34 stations, the climatology of BC mass concentration during 2006–2017 in China was evaluated for the first time. The national annual average BC concentration was 3534 ng/m3, and the concentration exhibited large spatial variation, from a minimum of 272 ng/m3 to a maximum of 10,228 ng/m3. Significant seasonal variations were also observed. The peak BC concentration (4763 ± 3380 ng/m3) occurred during winter, followed by autumn (3752 ± 2623 ng/m3) and spring (3022 ± 2121 ng/m3). The lowest BC concentration occurred in summer (2583 ± 1780 ng/m3) due to decreased emissions, wet removal by precipitation, and diffusion induced by strong turbulent mixing. Additionally, the diurnal variability at about 80% of the stations in China showed a bimodal pattern. Daily maximum BC concentration during 0000–0600, 0600–1200, 1200–1800, and 1800–2400 local solar time accounted for 0, 41, 12, and 47% of the total, respectively. In particular, the diurnal and monthly variations in BC were explicitly analyzed at seven baseline stations. Surface BC has exhibited a significant declining trend across China, which is partly corroborated by the increase in single scattering albedo during the same period in Beijing. Also, the BC radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere has declined at the rate of − 0.9 ± 0.1 W/m2/10 years over China, which differs from with the trend in the simulation using the CMIP6 emission. The decreasing BC has led to a larger reduction rate in atmospheric heating (− 3.7 ± 0.4 W/m2/10 years), implying a less stable atmosphere that facilitates the dispersion of air pollutants. The declining BC burden implies for both the air quality in China and regional climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmed T, Dutkiewicz VA, Khan AJ, Husain L (2014) Long term trends in Black Carbon Concentrations in the Northeastern United States. Atmos Res 137:49–57

    Google Scholar 

  • An Z, Huang R, Zhang R, Tie X, Li G, Cao J, Zhou W, Shi Z, Han Y, Gu Z, Ji Y (2019) Severe haze in northern China: a synergy of anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric processes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 116(18):8657–8666

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews T, Forster PM, Boucher O, Bellouin N, Jones A (2010) Precipitation, radiative forcing and global temperature change. Geophys Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL043991

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aruna K, Kumar TVL, Rao DN, Murthy BVK, Babu SS, Moorthy KK (2013) Black carbon aerosols in a tropical semi-urban coastal environment: effects of boundary layer dynamics and long range transport. J Atmos Sol Terr Phys 104:116–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Bi J, Huang J, Fu Q, Wang X, Shi J, Zhang W, Huang Z, Zhang B (2011) Toward characterization of the aerosol optical properties over Loess Plateau of Northwestern China. J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 112(2):346–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond TC, Doherty SJ, Fahey DW, Forster PM, Berntsen T, DeAngelo BJ (2013) Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: a scientific assessment. J Geophys Res Atmos 118:5380–5552

    Google Scholar 

  • Byčenkienė S, Ulevicius V, Dudoitis V, Andriejauskienė J (2013) Identification and characterization of black carbon aerosol sources in Lithuania. In: Proceedings of “The 2013 European Aerosol Conference”, Prague, 1st–6th Sept 2013

  • Cao JJ, Lee SC, Chow JC, Watson JG, Ho KF, Zhang RJ, Jin ZD, Shen ZX, Chen GC, Kang YM, Zou SC, Zhang LZ, Qi SH, Dai MH, Cheng Y, Hu K (2007) Spatial and seasonal distributions of carbonaceous aerosols over China. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro LM, Pio CA, Harrison RM, Smith DJT (1999) Carbonaceous aerosol in urban and rural European atmospheres: estimation of secondary organic carbon concentrations. Atmos Environ 33:2771–2781

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen S, Guo J, Song L, Li J, Liu L, Cohen JB (2019) Inter-annual variation of the spring haze pollution over the North China Plain: roles of atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperature. Int J Climaol 39(2):783–798

    Google Scholar 

  • Chow JC, Watson JG, Crow D, Lowenthal DH, Merrifield T (2001) Comparison of IMPROVE and NIOSH carbon measurements. Aerosol Sci Technol 34:23–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Chung S, Seinfeld JH (2005) Climate response of direct radiative forcing of anthropogenic black carbon. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD005441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding YH (1994) Monsoons over China. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ding AJ, Huang X, Nie W, Sun JN, Kerminen VM, Petäjä T et al (2016) Enhanced haze pollution by black carbon in megacities in China. Geophys Res Lett 43:2873–2879

    Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of United States (2011) Report to Congress on Black Carbon, Washington, DC

  • Gao X, Cao X, Tian P, Zhang L, Huang Z, Zhou T (2017) Combined observation of a dust storm over the Loess Plateau using a dual-wavelength lidar and an aethalometer. Atmos Pollut Res 8(6):1103–1112

    Google Scholar 

  • Grieshop AP, Reynolds CCO, Kandlikar M, Dowlatabadi H (2009) A black-carbon mitigation wedge. Nat Geosci 2:533. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Zhang X, Che H, Gong S, An X, Cao C, Guang J, Zhang H, Wang Y, Zhang X, Zhao P, Li X (2009) Correlation between PM concentrations and aerosol optical depth in eastern China. Atmos Environ 43(37):5876–5886

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Zhang X, Wu Y, Zhaxi Y, Che H, La B, Wang W, Li X (2011) Spatio-temporal variation trends of satellite-based aerosol optical depth in China during 1980–2008. Atmos Environ 45:6802–6811

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo S, Hu M, Zamora ML, Peng J, Shang D, Zheng J, Du Z, Wu Z, Shao M, Zeng L, Molina MJ, Zhang R (2014a) Elucidating severe urban haze formation in China. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(49):17373–17378

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Deng M, Fan J, Li Z, Chen Q, Zhai P, Dai Z, Li X (2014b) Precipitation and air pollution at mountain and plain stations in northern China: insights gained from observations and modeling. J Geophys Res Atmos 119:4793–4807

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Liu H, Wang F, Huang J, Xia F, Lou M, Wu Y, Jiang JH, Xie T, Zhaxi Y, Yung YL (2016a) Three-dimensional structure of aerosol in China: a perspective from multi-satellite observations. Atmos Res 178–179:580–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Miao Y, Zhang Y, Liu H, Li Z, Zhang W, He J, Lou M, Yan Y, Bian L, Zhai P (2016b) The climatology of planetary boundary layer height in China derived from radiosonde and reanalysis data. Atmos Chem Phys 16:13309–13319

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen ADA (2005) Aethalometer operations manual. Magee Scientific Company, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen J, Sato M, Ruedy R, Lacis A, Oinas V (2000) Global warming in the twenty-first century: an alternative scenario. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97(18):9875–9880

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitzenberger R, Tohno S (2001) Comparison of black carbon (BC) aerosols in two urban areas—concentrations and size distributions. Atmos Environ 35:2153–2167

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang J, Fu Q, Zhang W, Wang X, Zhang R, Ye H, Warren SG (2010) Dust and black carbon in seasonal snow across Northern China. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 92:175–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang J, Guo J, Wang F, Liu Z, Jeong M-J, Yu H, Zhang Z (2015) CALIPSO inferred most probable heights of global dust and smoke layers. J Geophys Res Atmos 120:5085–5100

    Google Scholar 

  • Järvi L, Junninen H, Karppinen A, Hillamo R, Virkkula A, Mäkelä T, Pakkanen T, Kulmala M (2008) Temporal variations in black carbon concentrations with different time scales in Helsinki during 1996–2005. Atmos Chem Phys 8:1017–1027

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang J, Su H, Huang L, Wang Y, Massie S, Zhao B, Omar A, Wang Z (2018) Contrasting effects on deep convective clouds by different types of aerosols. Nat Commun 9:3874. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06280-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones A, Haywood JM, Boucher O (2007) Aerosol forcing, climate response and climate sensitivity in the Hadley Centre climate model. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall MG (1975) Rank correlation methods. Griffin, London, p 202

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall M, Hamilton RS, Watt J, Williams ID (2001) Characterizations of selected speciated organic compounds associated with particulate matter in London. Atmos Environ 35:2483–2495

    Google Scholar 

  • Koren I, Kaufman YJ, Remer LA, Martins JV (2004) Measurement of the effect of Amazon smoke on inhibition of cloud formation. Science 303:1342–1345

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutzner RD, von Schneidemesser E, Kuik F, Quedenau J, Weatherhead EC, Schmale J (2018) Long-term monitoring of black carbon across Germany. Atmos Environ 185:41–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau KM, Kim MK, Kim KM (2006) Asian summer monsoon anomalies induced by aerosol direct forcing: the role of the Tibetan Plateau. Clim Dyn 26:855–864

    Google Scholar 

  • Legrand M, Puxbaum H (2007) Summary of the CARBOSOL project: present and retrospective state of organic versus inorganic aerosol over Europe. J Geophys Res Atmos 1:1. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Lau WKM, Ramanathan V, Wu G, Ding Y, Manoj MG et al (2016) Aerosol and monsoon climate interactions over Asia. Rev Geophys 54:866–929

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Guo J, Ding A, Liao H, Liu J, Sun Y, Wang T, Xue H, Zhang H, Zhu B (2017) Aerosol and boundary-layer interactions and impact on air quality. Natl Sci Rev 4:810–833

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Wei W, Liu M, Gao W, Han X (2012) Aerosol optical absorption by dust and black carbon in Taklimakan Desert, during no-dust and dust-storm conditions. Particuology 10(4):509–516

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma Y, Brooks SD, Vidaurre G, Khalizov AF, Wang L, Zhang R (2013) Rapid modification of cloud-nucleating ability of aerosols by biogenic emissions. Geophys Res Lett 40:6293–6297

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann HB (1945) Nonparametric tests against trend. Econometrica 13:245–259

    Google Scholar 

  • Menon S, Hansen JE, Nazarenko L, Luo Y (2002) Climate effects of black carbon aerosols in China and India. Science 297:2250–2253

    Google Scholar 

  • Miao Y, Guo J, Liu S, Liu H, Zhang G, Yan Y, He J (2017a) Relay transport of aerosols to Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region by multi-scale atmospheric circulations. Atmos Environ 165:35–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Miao Y, Guo J, Liu S, Liu H, Li Z, Zhang W, Zhai P (2017b) Classification of summertime synoptic patterns in Beijing and their associations with boundary layer structure affecting aerosol pollution. Atmos Chem Phys 17:3097–3110

    Google Scholar 

  • Ming Y, Ramaswamy V, Persad G (2010) Two opposing effects of absorbing aerosols on global-mean precipitation. Geophys Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL042895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minoura H, Takahashi K, Chow JC, Watson JG (2006) Multi-year trend in fine and coarse particle mass, carbon, and ions in downtown Tokyo, Japan. Atmos Environ 40:2478–2487

    Google Scholar 

  • Nejedlý Z, Campbell JL, Brook J, Vet R, Eldred R (2003) Evaluation of elemental and black carbon measurements from the GAViM and IMPROVE networks. Aerosol Sci Technol 37:96–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng J, Hu M, Guo S, Du Z, Zheng J, Shang D, Zamora ML, Zeng L, Shao M, Wu Y, Zheng J, Wang Y, Glen CR, Collins DR, Molina MJ, Zhang R (2016) Markedly enhanced absorption and direct radiative forcing of black carbon under polluted urban environments. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113(16):4266–4271

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng J, Hu M, Guo S, Du Z, Shang D, Zheng J et al (2017) Ageing and hygroscopicity variation of black carbon particles in Beijing measured by a quasi-atmospheric aerosol evolution study (QUALITY) chamber. Atmos Chem Phys 17:10333–10348

    Google Scholar 

  • Putero D, Cristofanelli P, Marinoni A, Adhikary B, Duchi R, Shrestha SD et al (2015) Seasonal variation of ozone and black carbon observed at Paknajol, an urban site in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Atmos Chem Phys 15:22527–22566

    Google Scholar 

  • Qin K, Wu L, Wong MS, Letu H, Hu M, Lang H et al (2016) Trans-boundary aerosol transport during a winter haze episode in China revealed by ground-based Lidar and CALIPSO satellite. Atmos Environ 141:20–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Saha A, Despiau S (2009) Seasonal and diurnal variations of black carbon aerosols over a Mediterranean coastal zone. Atmos Res 92(1):27–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Salma I, Chi X, Maenhaut W (2004) Elemental and organic carbon in urban canyon and background environments in Budapest, Hungary. Atmos Environ 38:27–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Samset BH, Myhre G, Schulz M, Balkanski Y, Bauer S, Berntsen TK et al (2013) Black carbon vertical profiles strongly affect its radiative forcing uncertainty. Atmos Chem Phys 13:2423–2434

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma MC, Pandey VK, Kumar R, Latief SU, Chakrawarthy E, Acharya P (2018) Seasonal characteristics of black carbon aerosol mass concentrations and influence of meteorology, New Delhi (India). Urban Clim 24:968–981

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh V, Khaiwal R, Sahu L, Sokhi R (2018) Trends of black carbon concentration over United Kingdom. Atmos Environ 178:148–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Stull RB (1988) An introduction to boundary layer meteorology. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang C (2007) Impact of direct radiative forcing of black carbon aerosols on tropical convective precipitation. Geophys Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang R, Tao S, Wang W, Liu J, Shen H, Shen G et al (2012) Black carbon emissions in China from 1949 to 2050. Environ Sci Technol 46(14):7595–7603

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Khalizov A, Levy M, Zhang R (2013) New directions: light absorbing aerosols and their atmospheric impacts. Atmos Environ 81:713–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang G, Zhang R, Gomez ME, Yang L, Zamora ML, Hu M, Lin Y, Peng J, Guo S et al (2016) Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113(48):13630–13635

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Ma PL, Peng J, Zhang R, Jiang JH, Easter RC, Yung YL (2018a) Constraining aging processes of black carbon in the community atmosphere model using environmental chamber measurements. J Adv Model Earth Syst 10:2514–2526

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang G, Zhang F, Peng J, Duan L, Ji Y, Marrero-Ortiz W et al (2018b) Particle acidity and sulfate production during severe haze events in China cannot be reliably inferred by assuming a mixture of inorganic salts. Atmos Chem Phys 18:10123–10132

    Google Scholar 

  • Wijngaard JB, Klein Tank AMG, Können GP (2003) Homogeneity of 20th century European daily temperature and precipitation series. Int J Climatol 23:679–692

    Google Scholar 

  • Xue HX, Khalizov AF, Wang L, Zheng J, Zhang R (2009a) Effects of coating of dicarboxylic acids on the mass-mobility relationship of soot particles. Environ Sci Technol 43:2787–2792

    Google Scholar 

  • Xue HX, Khalizov AF, Wang L, Zheng J, Zhang R (2009b) Effects of dicarboxylic acid coating on the optical properties of soot. Phys Chem Chem Phys 11:7869–7875

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan P, Tang J, Huang J, Mao JT, Zhou XJ, Liu Q, Wang ZF, Zhou HG (2008) The measurement of aerosol optical properties at a rural site in Northern China. Atmos Chem Phys 8:2229–2242

    Google Scholar 

  • Yttri KE, Aas W, Bjerke A, Cape JN, Cavalli F, Ceburnis D et al (2007) Elemental and organic carbon in PM10: a one year measurement campaign within the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme EMEP. Atmos Chem Phys 7:5711–5725

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhai P, Eskridge RE (1997) Atmospheric water vapor over China. J Clim 10:2643–2652

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R, Wang G, Guo S, Zamora ML, Ying Q, Lin Y (2015) Formation of urban fine particulate matter. Chem Rev 115:3803–3855

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R, Peng J, Wang Y, Hu M (2019) Reply to Boucher et al.: Rate and timescale of black carbon aging regulate direct radiative forcing. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113(35):5094–5095

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhong Q, Ma J, Shen G, Shen H, Zhu X, Yun X, Meng W, Cheng H, Liu J, Li B, Wang X, Zeng EY, Guan D, Tao S (2018) Distinguishing emission-associated ambient air PM2.5 concentrations and meteorological factor-induced fluctuations. Environ Sci Technol 52(18):10416–10425

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was performed under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grants 2017YFC1501401 and 2017YFC1501701), the Megacities Experiment on Integrated Meteorological Observations in China initiated by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 41771399 and 91644223), and the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (Grant 2017Z005). We appreciate the SSA measurements from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) Beijing station. Last but not least, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions and comments, which helped improve this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meteorological Observation Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yong Zhang & Yanan Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jianping Guo & Dandan Chen

  3. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Yuan Wang

  4. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Hongbin Chen

Authors
  1. Yong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yanan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jianping Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yuan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dandan Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hongbin Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianping Guo.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Guo, J. et al. The climatology and trend of black carbon in China from 12-year ground observations. Clim Dyn 53, 5881–5892 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04903-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04903-0

Search

Navigation