Butler, Carolyn

Fenn, Marta

Fütterer, Daniel Alexander

Hair, Jonathan

Heimerl, Katharina

Huntrieser, Heidi

Lichtenstern, Michael

Markovic, Milos

Perring, Anne

Sauer, Daniel

Schlager, Hans

Schwarz, Joshua P.

Weinzierl, Bernadett

Institute of Transport Research:Publications

A41C-0051: Vertical Distribution of Black Carbon during DC3 and the Influence of Thunderstorms on the Transport of Biomass Burning Layers into the Free Troposphere Thursday, 15 December 2016 08:00 - 12:20 Moscone South - Poster HallBiomass burning events emit large amounts of black carbon (BC) which can be redistributed vertically by atmospheric processes. Aerosol lifetime increases with altitude, hence the vertical transport of BC further increases its effects on the absorption of solar radiation and on clouds. Here we show BC measurements in biomass burning layers from the DC3 field experiment over the central US in summer 2012. Due to the abundance of wildfires in 2012, biomass burning layers were seen throughout the free troposphere from the top of the boundary layer up to the UTLS region. This enabled us to compare biomass burning layers at different altitudes before and after uplift into the upper troposphere, in some cases from the same fire. Biomass burning layers close to the fires were found to be thick plumes with a sharp upper edge up to 5 km altitude. In the proximity of thunderstorms, the layers reached to higher altitudes up to 7 km. In the upper troposphere, around 11 km altitude, thin, horizontally extended BC-containing aerosol layers were found which were rich in ozone due to entrainment of stratospheric air. We performed comparisons of the microphysical properties of BC in biomass burning layers at different altitude. While the BC mass size distributions in the free troposphere show large variations, the BC mass size distributions found in layers in the UTLS at 11 km altitude are surprisingly similar. We conclude that cloud processing removes predominantly large and thickly coated particles, leaving behind the nearly uniform BC mass size distribution found in the upper tropospheric biomass burning layers. Our observations constrain the possible convective processing of BC-containing aerosol and help scale the potential of thunderstorms to transport BC to the UTLS. AuthorsKatharina Heimerl *German Aerospace Center (DLR) Ludwig Maximilians Universität Bernadett Weinzierl German Aerospace Center (DLR) University of Vienna Daniel N Sauer German Aerospace Center DLR Oberpfaffenhofen Daniel Fütterer German Aerospace Center (DLR) Michael Lichtenstern German Aerospace Center (DLR) Hans Schlager German Aerospace Center DLR Oberpfaffenhofen Joshua Peter Schwarz NOAA Boulder Seite 1 von 22016 AGU Fall Meeting19.12.2016https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/181277Milos Z Markovic Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences Piccaro Inc. Anne Elizabeth Perring Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences Johnathan W Hair NASA Langley Research Center Carolyn F Butler NASA Langley Research Center Marta A Fenn NASA Langley Research Center Heidi Huntrieser German Aerospace Center DLR Oberpfaffenhofen Find Similar View Related EventsDay: Thursday, 15 December 2016 Seite 2 von 22016 AGU Fall Meeting19.12.2016https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/181277

Vertical Distribution of Black Carbon during DC3 and the Influence of Thunderstorms on the Transport of Biomass Burning Layers into the Free Troposphere

Vertical Distribution of Black Carbon during DC3 and the Influence of Thunderstorms on the Transport of Biomass Burning Layers into the Free Troposphere

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Institute of Transport Research:Publications