Abstract
Light-absorbing organic aerosol (brown carbon (BrC)) can significantly affect Earth’s radiation budget and hydrological cycle. Biomass burning (BB) is among the major sources of atmospheric BrC. In this study, day/night pair (10-h integrated) of ambient PM2.5 were sampled every day before (defined as T1, n = 21), during (T2, n = 36), and after (T3, n = 8) a large-scale paddy-residue burning during October–November over Patiala (30.2° N, 76.3° E, 250 m amsl), a site located in the northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). PM2.5 concentration varied from ~ 90 to 500 μg m−3 (average ± 1σ standard deviation 230 ± 114) with the average values of 154 ± 57, 271 ± 122, and 156 ± 18 μg m−3 during T1, T2, and T3 periods, respectively, indicating the influence of BB emissions on ambient air quality. The absorption coefficient of BrC (babs) is calculated from the high-resolution absorption spectra of water-soluble and methanol-soluble organic carbon measured at 300 to 700 nm, and that at 365 nm (babs_365) is used as a general measure of BrC. The babs_365_Water and babs_365_Methanol ranged ~ 2 to 112 Mm−1 (avg 37 ± 27) and ~ 3 to 457 Mm−1 (avg 121 ± 108), respectively, suggesting a considerable presence of water-insoluble BrC. Contrasting differences were also observed in the daytime and nighttime values of babs_365_Water and babs_365_Methanol. Further, the levoglucosan showed a strong correlation with K+ (slope = 0.89 ± 0.06, R = 0.92) during the T2 period. We propose that this slope (~ 0.9) can be used as a typical characteristics of the emissions from paddy-residue burning over the IGP. Absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) showed a clear day/night variability during the T2 period, and lower AAEMethanol compared to AAEWater throughout the sampling period. Further at 365 nm, average relative atmospheric radiative forcing (RRF) for BrCWater is estimated to be ~ 17%, whereas that of BrCMethanol ~ 62% with respect to elemental carbon, suggesting that BrC radiative forcing could be largely underestimated by studies those use BrCWater only as a surrogate of total BrC.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Auffhammer M, Ramanathan V, Vincent JR (2012) Climate change, the monsoon, and rice yield in India. Clim Chang 111:411–424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0208-4
Caseiro A, Bauer H, Schmidl C, Pio CA, Puxbaum H (2009) Wood burning impact on PM10in three Austrian regions. Atmos Environ 43:2186–2195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.01.012
Chen Y, Bond TC (2009) Light absorption by organic carbon from wood combustion. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 9:20471–20513. https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-9-20471-2009
Cheng Y, He KB, Zheng M, Duan FK, du ZY, Ma YL, Tan JH, Yang FM, Liu JM, Zhang XL, Weber RJ, Bergin MH, Russell AG (2011) Mass absorption efficiency of elemental carbon and water-soluble organic carbon in Beijing, China. Atmos Chem Phys 11:11497–11510. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-11497-2011
Cheng Y, Engling G, He KB, Duan FK, Ma YL, du ZY, Liu JM, Zheng M, Weber RJ (2013) Biomass burning contribution to Beijing aerosol. Atmos Chem Phys 13:7765–7781. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7765-2013
Cheng Y, Bin HK, Yu DZ et al (2016) The characteristics of brown carbon aerosol during winter in Beijing. Atmos Environ 127:355–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.12.035
Choudhary V, Rajput P, Singh DK, Singh AK, Gupta T (2018) Light absorption characteristics of brown carbon during foggy and non-foggy episodes over the indo-Gangetic plain. Atmos Pollut Res 9:494–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2017.11.012
Dasari S, Andersson A, Bikkina S, Holmstrand H, Budhavant K, Satheesh S, Asmi E, Kesti J, Backman J, Salam A, Bisht DS, Tiwari S, Hameed Z, Gustafsson Ö (2019) Photochemical degradation affects the light absorption of water-soluble brown carbon in the South Asian outflow. Sci Adv 5:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau8066
Drewnick F, Hings SS, Curtius J, Eerdekens G, Williams J (2006) Measurement of fine particulate and gas-phase species during the New Year’s fireworks 2005 in Mainz, Germany. Atmos Environ 40:4316–4327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.03.040
Feng Y, Ramanathan V, Kotamarthi VR (2013) Brown carbon: a significant atmospheric absorber of solar radiation. Atmos Chem Phys 13:8607–8621. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8607-2013
Gao S, Hegg DA, Hobbs P V., et al (2003) Water-soluble organic components in aerosols associated with savanna fires in southern Africa: Identification, evolution, and distribution. J Geophys Res Atmos 108:n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002324
Graber ER, Rudich Y (2005) Atmospheric HULIS: how humic-like are they? A comprehensive and critical review. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 5:9801–9860. https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-5-9801-2005
Hecobian A, Zhang X, Zheng M, Frank N, Edgerton ES, Weber RJ (2010) Water-soluble organic aerosol material and the light-absorption characteristics of aqueous extracts measured over the Southeastern United States. Atmos Chem Phys 10:5965–5977. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-5965-2010
Hems RF, Abbatt JPD (2018) Aqueous phase photo-oxidation of brown carbon nitrophenols: reaction kinetics, mechanism, and evolution of light absorption. ACS Earth Sp Chem 2:225–234. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.7b00123
Herich H, Hueglin C, Buchmann B (2011) A 2.5 year’s source apportionment study of black carbon from wood burning and fossil fuel combustion at urban and rural sites in Switzerland. Atmos Meas Tech 4:1409–1420. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-4-1409-2011
Hoffer A, Gelencsér A, Guyon P, Kiss G, Schmid O, Frank G, Artaxo P, Andreae MO (2005) Optical properties of humic-like substances (HULIS) in biomass-burning aerosols. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 5:7341–7360. https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-5-7341-2005
Hu QH, Xie ZQ, Wang XM, Kang H, Zhang P (2013) Levoglucosan indicates high levels of biomass burning aerosols over oceans from the Arctic to Antarctic. Sci Rep 3:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03119
Jacobson MZ (2014) Effects of biomass burning on climate, accounting for heat and moisture fluxes, black and brown carbon, and cloud absorption effects. J Geophys Res Atmos 119:8980–9002. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD021861.Received
Jethva H, Satheesh SK, Srinivasan J (2005) Seasonal variability of aerosols over the Indo-Gangetic basin. J Geophys Res Atmos 110:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD005938
Kanawade VP, Srivastava AK, Ram K, Asmi E, Vakkari V, Soni VK, Varaprasad V, Sarangi C (2020) What caused severe air pollution episode of November 2016 in New Delhi? Atmos Environ 222:117125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117125
Kirillova EN, Andersson A, Han J, Lee M, Gustafsson Ö (2014a) Sources and light absorption of water-soluble organic carbon aerosols in the outflow from northern China. Atmos Chem Phys 14:1413–1422. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1413-2014
Kirillova EN, Andersson A, Tiwari S, Srivastava AK, Bisht DS, Gustafsson Ö (2014b) Water-soluble organic carbon aerosols during a full New Delhi winter: isotope-base source apportionment and optical properties. J Geophys Res D Atmos 119:3476–3485. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD021272.Received
Lack DA, Cappa CD (2010) Impact of brown and clear carbon on light absorption enhancement, single scatter albedo and absorption wavelength dependence of black carbon. Atmos Chem Phys 10:4207–4220. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-4207-2010
Laskin A, Laskin J, Nizkorodov SA (2015) Chemistry of atmospheric Brown carbon. Chem Rev 115:4335–4382. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr5006167
Lin G, Penner JE, Flanner MG, Sillman S, Xu L, Zhou C (2014) Radiative forcing of organic aerosol in the atmosphere and on snow: effects of SOA and brown carbon. J Geophys Res Atmos 119:7453–7476. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD021186
Lin P, Liu J, Shilling JE, Kathmann SM, Laskin J, Laskin A (2015) Molecular characterization of brown carbon (BrC) chromophores in secondary organic aerosol generated from photo-oxidation of toluene. Phys Chem Chem Phys 17:23312–23325. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CP02563J
Lin P, Aiona PK, Li Y, Shiraiwa M, Laskin J, Nizkorodov SA, Laskin A (2016) Molecular characterization of brown carbon in biomass burning aerosol particles. Environ Sci Technol 50:11815–11824. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b03024
Lin P, Bluvshtein N, Rudich Y et al (2017) Molecular chemistry of atmospheric brown carbon inferred from a nationwide biomass burning event. Environ Sci Technol acs.Est.7b02276. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02276
Liu J, Bergin M, Guo H, King L, Kotra N, Edgerton E, Weber RJ (2013) Size-resolved measurements of brown carbon in water and methanol extracts and estimates of their contribution to ambient fine-particle light absorption. Atmos Chem Phys 13:12389–12404. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12389-2013
Liu J, Scheuer E, Dibb J, Ziemba LD, Thornhill KL, Anderson BE, Wisthaler A, Mikoviny T, Devi JJ, Bergin M, Weber RJ (2014) Brown carbon in the continental troposphere. Geophys Res Lett 41:2191–2195. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058976
Liu J, Scheuer E, Dibb J, Diskin GS, Ziemba LD, Thornhill KL, Anderson BE, Wisthaler A, Mikoviny T, Devi JJ, Bergin M, Perring AE, Markovic MZ, Schwarz JP, Campuzano-Jost P, Day DA, Jimenez JL, Weber RJ (2015) Brown carbon aerosol in the north American continental troposphere: sources, abundance, and radiative forcing. Atmos Chem Phys 15:7841–7858. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7841-2015
Lu C, Wang X, Li R, Gu R, Zhang Y, Li W, Gao R, Chen B, Xue L, Wang W (2019) Emissions of fine particulate nitrated phenols from residential coal combustion in China. Atmos Environ 203:10–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.01.047
Lukács H, Gelencsér A, Hammer S, Puxbaum H, Pio C, Legrand M, Kasper-Giebl A, Handler M, Limbeck A, Simpson D, Preunkert S (2007) Seasonal trends and possible sources of brown carbon based on 2-year aerosol measurements at six sites in Europe. J Geophys Res Atmos 112:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008151
Ma Y, Weber RJ, Lee Y-N et al (2003) Characteristics and influence of biosmoke on the fine-particle ionic composition measured in Asian outflow during the Transport and Chemical Evolution Over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment. J Geophys Res Atmos 108. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD003128
Mkoma SL, Kawamura K (2013) Molecular composition of dicarboxylic acids, ketocarboxylic acids, α-dicarbonyls and fatty acids in atmospheric aerosols from Tanzania, East Africa during wet and dry seasons. Atmos Chem Phys 13:2235–2251. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2235-2013
Patel A, Rastogi N (2018a) Oxidative potential of ambient fine aerosol over a semi-urban site in the indo-Gangetic plain. Atmos Environ 175:127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.12.004
Patel A, Rastogi N (2018b) Seasonal variability in chemical composition and oxidative potential of ambient aerosol over a high altitude site in western India. Sci Total Environ 644:1268–1276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.030
Patel A, Rastogi N (2020) Chemical composition and oxidative potential of atmospheric PM10 over the Arabian Sea. ACS Earth Sp Chem 4:112–121. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00285
Pietrogrande MC, Mercuriali M, Perrone MG, Ferrero L, Sangiorgi G, Bolzacchini E (2010) Distribution of n -alkanes in the Northern Italy aerosols: data handling of gc-ms signals for homologous series characterization. Environ Sci Technol 44:4232–4240. https://doi.org/10.1021/es1001242
Pietrogrande MC, Bacco D, Chiereghin S (2013) GC/MS analysis of water-soluble organics in atmospheric aerosol: optimization of a solvent extraction procedure for simultaneous analysis of carboxylic acids and sugars. Anal Bioanal Chem 405:1095–1104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6592-4
Pietrogrande MC, Bacco D, Ferrari S, Ricciardelli I, Scotto F, Trentini A, Visentin M (2016) Characteristics and major sources of carbonaceous aerosols in PM2.5 in Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy) from four-year observations. Sci Total Environ 553:172–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.074
Puxbaum H, Caseiro A, Sánchez-Ochoa A, Kasper-Giebl A, Claeys M, Gelencsér A, Legrand M, Preunkert S, Pio C (2007) Levoglucosan levels at background sites in Europe for assessing the impact of biomass combustion on the European aerosol background. J Geophys Res Atmos 112:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008114
Rajput P, Sarin MM (2014) Polar and non-polar organic aerosols from large-scale agricultural-waste burning emissions in Northern India: implications to organic mass-to-organic carbon ratio. Chemosphere 103:74–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.11.028
Ram K, Sarin MM (2009) Absorption coefficient and site-specific mass absorption efficiency of elemental carbon in aerosols over urban, rural, and high-altitude sites in India. Environ Sci Technol 43:8233–8239. https://doi.org/10.1021/es9011542
Ram K, Sarin MM (2011) Day-night variability of EC, OC, WSOC and inorganic ions in urban environment of Indo-Gangetic Plain: implications to secondary aerosol formation. Atmos Environ 45:460–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.09.055
Rastogi N, Sarin MM (2009) Quantitative chemical composition and characteristics of aerosols over western India: one-year record of temporal variability. Atmos Environ 43:3481–3488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.04.030
Rastogi N, Singh A, Singh D, Sarin MM (2014) Chemical characteristics of PM2.5at a source region of biomass burning emissions: evidence for secondary aerosol formation. Environ Pollut 184:563–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.09.037
Rastogi N, Patel A, Singh A, Singh D (2015) Diurnal variability in secondary organic aerosol formation over the indo-gangetic plain during winter using online measurement of water-soluble organic carbon. Aerosol Air Qual Res 15:2225–2231. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.02.0097
Rastogi N, Singh A, Sarin MM, Singh D (2016) Temporal variability of primary and secondary aerosols over northern India: impact of biomass burning emissions. Atmos Environ 125:396–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.06.010
Sahai S, Sharma C, Singh DP, Dixit CK, Singh N, Sharma P, Singh K, Bhatt S, Ghude S, Gupta V, Gupta RK, Tiwari MK, Garg SC, Mitra AP, Gupta PK (2007) A study for development of emission factors for trace gases and carbonaceous particulate species from in situ burning of wheat straw in agricultural fields in India. Atmos Environ 41:9173–9186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.07.054
Sandradewi J, Prévôt ASH, Szidat S, Perron N, Alfarra MR, Lanz VA, Weingartner E, Baltensperger U (2008) Using aerosol light abosrption measurements for the quantitative determination of wood burning and traffic emission contribution to particulate matter. Environ Sci Technol 42:3316–3323. https://doi.org/10.1021/es702253m
Satish RV, Rastogi N (2019) Use of brown carbon spectra as a tool to understand their broader composition and characteristics : a case study from crop residue burning samples. ACS omega 4:1847–1853. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b02637
Satish R V, Shamjad PM, Thamban NM, et al (2017) Temporal characteristics of brown carbon over the central Indo-Gangetic Plain diurnal variability of PMF factors and meteorological parameters : 1
Schkolnik G, Falkovich AH, Rudich Y, Maenhaut W, Artaxo P (2005) New analytical method for the determination of levoglucosan, polyhydroxy compounds, and 2-methylerythritol and its application to smoke and rainwater samples. Environ Sci Technol 39:2744–2752. https://doi.org/10.1021/es048363c
Shamjad PM, Tripathi SN, Thamban NM, Vreeland H (2016) Refractive index and absorption attribution of highly absorbing brown carbon aerosols from an urban Indian City-Kanpur. Sci Rep 6:37735. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37735
Shamjad PM, Satish RV, Thamban NM, Rastogi N, Tripathi SN (2018) Absorbing refractive index and direct Radiative forcing of atmospheric brown carbon over Gangetic plain. ACS Earth Sp Chem 2:31–37. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.7b00074
Simoneit BRT, Schauer JJ, Nolte CG, Oros DR, Elias VO, Fraser MP, Rogge WF, Cass GR (1999) Levoglucosan, a tracer for cellulose in biomass burning and atmospheric particles. Atmos Environ 33:173–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(98)00145-9
Singh A, Rajput P, Sharma D, Sarin MM, Singh D (2014) Black carbon and elemental carbon from postharvest agricultural-waste burning emissions in the Indo-Gangetic plain. Adv Meteorol 2014:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/179301
Singh A, Rastogi N, Patel A, Satish RV, Singh D (2016a) Size-segregated characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols over the northwestern Indo-Gangetic plain: year round temporal behavior. Aerosol Air Qual Res 16:1615–1624. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2016.01.0023
Singh A, Rastogi N, Patel A, Singh D (2016b) Seasonality in size-segregated ionic composition of ambient particulate pollutants over the Indo-Gangetic Plain: source apportionment using PMF. Environ Pollut:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.09.010
Singh A, Rastogi, N (2019) Quantification of organic carbon from biomass versus non-biomass burning emissions to fine aerosol. Proc Indian Nat Sci Acad 85:629–636. https://doi.org/10.16943/ptinsa/2019/49585
Srinivas B, Sarin MM (2013) Light absorbing organic aerosols (brown carbon) over the tropical Indian Ocean: impact of biomass burning emissions. Environ Res Lett 8:044042. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044042
Srinivas B, Sarin MM (2014) Brown carbon in atmospheric outflow from the Indo-Gangetic Plain: mass absorption efficiency and temporal variability. Atmos Environ 89:835–843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.03.030
Srinivas B, Sarin M (2019) Brown carbon in the continental outflow to the North Indian Ocean. Environ Sci Process Impacts 21:970–987. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9em00089e
Srinivas B, Rastogi N, Sarin MM, Singh A, Singh D (2016) Mass absorption efficiency of light absorbing organic aerosols from source region of paddy-residue burning emissions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Atmos Environ 125:360–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.07.017
Sun H, Biedermann L, Bond TC (2007) Color of brown carbon: a model for ultraviolet and visible light absorption by organic carbon aerosol. Geophys Res Lett 34:1–5. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL029797
Wang H, Kawamura K, Shooter D (2005) Carbonaceous and ionic components in wintertime atmospheric aerosols from two New Zealand cities: implications for solid fuel combustion. Atmos Environ 39:5865–5875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.06.031
Wang G, Kawamura K, Xie M, Hu S, Gao S, Cao J, An Z, Wang Z (2009) Size-distributions of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes and their sources in the urban, mountain and marine atmospheres over East Asia. Atmos Chem Phys 9:8869–8882. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-8869-2009
Wang X, Heald CL, Ridley DA, Schwarz JP, Spackman JR, Perring AE, Coe H, Liu D, Clarke AD (2014) Exploiting simultaneous observational constraints on mass and absorption to estimate the global direct radiative forcing of black carbon and brown carbon. Atmos Chem Phys 14:10989–11010. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10989-2014
Weingartner E, Saathoff H, Schnaiter M, Streit N, Bitnar B, Baltensperger U (2003) Absorption of light by soot particles: determination of the absorption coefficient by means of aethalometers. J Aerosol Sci 34:1445–1463. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(03)00359-8
Yan C, Zheng M, Sullivan AP, et al. (2015) Chemical characteristics and light-absorbing property of water-soluble organic carbon in Beijing: Biomass burning contributions. Atmos Environ 121:4–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.05.005
Yan J, Wang X, Gong P, Wang C, Cong Z (2018) Science of the Total environment review of brown carbon aerosols : recent progress and perspectives. Sci Total Environ 634:1475–1485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.083
Zhang X, Lin YH, Surratt JD, Weber RJ (2013) Sources, composition and absorption Ångström exponent of light-absorbing organic components in aerosol extracts from the los Angeles basin. Environ Sci Technol 47:3685–3693. https://doi.org/10.1021/es305047b
Funding
Partial funding from ISRO-Geosphere Biosphere program is thankfully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Satish, R., Rastogi, N., Singh, A. et al. Change in characteristics of water-soluble and water-insoluble brown carbon aerosols during a large-scale biomass burning. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 33339–33350 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09388-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09388-7