Black carbon-induced regime transition of boundary layer development stronglyamplifies severe haze
- 1Institute of Atmospheric Physics CAS, Beijing, China (suhang@mail.iap.ac.cn)
- 2Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
- 3TsinghuaUniversity, Beijing, China
- 4Nanjing University, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing, China
- 5University of Maryland,Maryland, United States
- 6Peking University, Beijing, China
- 7University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- 8US EPA, Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
- 9University ofMaryland, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department, College Park, MD, United States
- 10Nanjing University, JointInternational Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Research, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing,China
- 11King Saud University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Black carbon (BC) aerosol can strongly influence planetary boundary layer (PBL) development and thus severe hazeformation, but its distinct role compared with scattering aerosols are not yet fully understood. Here, combiningnumerical simulation and field observation, we found a “tipping point”, where the daily maximum PBL heightdecreases abruptly when exceeding a critical threshold of aerosol optical depth (AOD), due to a BC-induced decouplingof mixing zones. Because the threshold AOD decreases with increasing BC mass fraction, our results suggest that theabrupt transition of PBL development to adverse conditions can be avoided by reducing the AOD below the threshold,but more efficiently by reducing the BC mass fraction to increase the threshold (e.g., up to 4-6 times more effective inextreme haze events in Beijing). To achieve co-benefits for air quality and climate change, our findings clearlydemonstrate that high priority should be given to controlling BC emissions.
How to cite: Su, H., Wang, J., Wei, C., Zheng, G., Wang, J., Su, T., Li, C., Liu, C., Pleim, J. E., Li, Z., Ding, A., Andreae, M. O., Poeschl, U., and Cheng, Y.: Black carbon-induced regime transition of boundary layer development stronglyamplifies severe haze, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-3877, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-3877, 2024.
