Biomass burning as a potential source for atmospheric ice nuclei: Western wildfires and prescribed burns
The sources, abundance and nature of atmospheric particles that serve as ice nuclei (IN) for cold cloud formation remain some of the most important, yet poorly-characterized, features of aerosol-cloud interactions that indirectly affect climate. Although a great deal of effort has focused on characterizing the ice nucleating ability of mineral dusts, less is known about carbonaceous particles. A primary source for carbonaceous IN is from biomass combustion. Here we report new measurements of IN activity at −30°C and above water saturation from biomass burning generated particles from prescribed burns and wildfires in the western US. These measurements suggest a range of IN activity, with variability largely dependent on the intensity of the fire. Although the fraction of particles generated during burns which serve as IN is quite small, the large numbers of particles generated in fires make biomass burning a potentially important source of IN to the atmosphere.
document
https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7mw2htd
eng
geoscientificInformation
Text
publication
2016-01-01T00:00:00Z
publication
2012-06-15T00:00:00Z
Copyright 2012 American Geophysical Union.
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