Black carbon vertical profiles strongly affect its radiative forcing uncertainty

The impact of black carbon (BC) aerosols on the global radiation balance is not well constrained. Here twelve global aerosol models are used to show that at least 20% of the present uncertainty in modeled BC direct radiative forcing (RF) is due to diversity in the simulated vertical profile of BC mass. Results are from phases 1 and 2 of the global aerosol model intercomparison project (AeroCom). Additionally, a significant fraction of the variability is shown to come from high altitudes, as, globally, more than 40% of the total BC RF is exerted above 5 km. BC emission regions and areas with transported BC are found to have differing characteristics. These insights into the importance of the vertical profile of BC lead us to suggest that observational studies are needed to better characterize the global distribution of BC, including in the upper troposphere.

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Author Samset, B.
Myhre, G.
Schulz, M.
Balkanski, Y.
Bauer, S.
Berntsen, T.
Bian, H.
Bellouin, N.
Diehl, T.
Easter, R.
Ghan, S.
Iversen, T.
Kinne, S.
Kirkevag, A.
Lamarque, Jean-Francois
Lin, G.
Liu, X.
Penner, J.
Seland, O.
Skeie, R.
Stier, P.
Takemura, T.
Tsigaridis, K.
Zhang, K.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2013-03-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
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Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2023-08-18T18:45:50.441953
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:12621
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Samset, B., Myhre, G., Schulz, M., Balkanski, Y., Bauer, S., Berntsen, T., Bian, H., Bellouin, N., Diehl, T., Easter, R., Ghan, S., Iversen, T., Kinne, S., Kirkevag, A., Lamarque, Jean-Francois, Lin, G., Liu, X., Penner, J., Seland, O., Skeie, R., Stier, P., Takemura, T., Tsigaridis, K., Zhang, K.. (2013). Black carbon vertical profiles strongly affect its radiative forcing uncertainty. UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7v125nk. Accessed 07 February 2025.

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