HR: 10:35h
AN: A32A-02    [Abstracts]
TI: Atmospheric heating of the Houston urban boundary layer by black carbon aerosol absorption of solar radiation
AU: * Schwarz, J P
EM: joshua.p.schwarz@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Stark, H
EM: harald.stark@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Spackman, J R
EM: ryan.spackman@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Gao, R
EM: rushan.gao@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Watts, L A
EM: laurel.a.watts@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Thomson, D S
EM: David.s.thomson@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Fahey, D W
EM: david.w.fahey@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/CIRES, 325 Broadway R/CSD6, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AB: The direct radiative forcing associated with absorption by black carbon (BC) aerosol has important regional and global effects. We have calculated the solar absorption of BC aerosol using simultaneous in situ measurements of actinic flux, BC mass, and BC's association with coating materials. The measurements were made during the TexAQS/GoMACCS campaign in the Houston, TX, metropolitan area in September/October 2006 from the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft operating primarily in the boundary layer. The BC measurements were made with a Single-Particle Soot Photometer, which provides detailed physical and optical information about BC on a particle-by-particle basis, while actinic flux was measured over the wavelength range of 280-690 nm with a CCD-based spectroradiometer collecting light from 4π steradians. The absorption was calculated along the flight tracks and converted to atmospheric heating rates in the urban area, as well as in biomass burning plumes. These results will improve our understanding of the relationship between BC emissions and radiative forcing in polluted urban areas, and help evaluate the merit of short-term climate-change mitigation strategies involving reduction of BC emissions.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 1637 Regional climate change
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting