Black carbon sources & climate impacts Black carbon sources - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Black carbon sources & climate impacts Black carbon sources & climate impacts

Tami C. Bond Tami C. Bond

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-

• Champaign

Champaign yark@illinois.edu yark@illinois.edu

Photo: NASA

Black Carbon, Climate, and Air Quality Lunch Briefing Washington, DC April 29, 2010

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Black carbon is an unusual particle. Black carbon is an unusual particle.

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Scattering particle Light is reflected away from Earth--

COOLING

Absorbing particle Light is absorbed and turned into heat –

WARMING

Almost everything that is not BC e.g. sulfates &

• rganic carbon

It looks like this under a very strong microscope

Li et al, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 108(D13), 8484, 10.1029/2002jd002310, 2004.

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Black carbon powerful, immediate warming CO2 long, slow warming Black carbon powerful, immediate warming CO2 long, slow warming

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1 g BC ( 1/ 25 oz or ½ dime ) = space heater for 1 week 7 pounds CO2 = 1 small bulb for 100 years

Both come from an old diesel truck driving 2 miles

1 / 3 g a l l

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Climate impact = mix of emitted pollutants Climate impact = mix of emitted pollutants

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Black carbon Reflecting particles

Cooling clouds usually increase when particles are added (but not always)

Some sources of black carbon may produce net cooling.

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Global sources of black carbon Global sources of black carbon

Year 2000 estimates (Bond et al., GBC 2007 + van der Werf, 2006 + updates for IPCC AR5)

~ 8800

(short) tons/yr

United States: 5% of global United States: 5% of global

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~ 460

(short) tons/yr

Black carbon sources by latitude Black carbon sources by latitude

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• 50
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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 BC emissions (Gg/year) Latitude All longitudes, BC

Power Industry Res fossil fuel Res biofuel Transportation Crop waste Open burning North of 40º N May travel directly to Arctic S of 40º N Affects atmospheric warming

Photo credits: guardian.co.uk (above), V. Ramanathan (below)

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Black carbon’s impacts are complex Black carbon’s impacts are complex

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Atmosphere

(“direct”)

Clouds

(indirect)

Snow/ice

Warms atmosphere, cools ground More or fewer cloud droplets, more clouds Melts snow

Where? Main change Also

Alters rainfall Exposes surface, accelerates melt Suppresses vertical motion, increases clouds

Global average impact Global average impact

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methane All

• ther

Accumulating, growing in magnitude

Clouds have been apportioned by mass of aerosol emissions, a very crude approximation that is not sanctioned by IPCC.

Source: IPCC AR4 – gases, sulfate, and cloud total; BC + cloud apportionment – own analysis Some BC sources also emit sulfate, but major sulfate sources emit little BC

Lifetime: Years Lifetime: Days

Looks small, but has triple whammy with melting

Both emission and impact have “hot spots” Both emission and impact have “hot spots”

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Black carbon emission, year 2000 Includes energy-related & open

Bond et al., Glob Biogeochem Cyc, 21, GB2018 Units: ng/m3/sec

Black carbon distribution

Koch et al., Atmos Chem Phys, 9, 9026 Units: ng/m3

Mitigation potential Mitigation potential

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Diesel

• Res. wood
• Res. coal

Industry

• Agri. Burn

Open Burn

STRONG STRONG-MOD OPEN QNS OPEN QNS OPEN QNS

Feasible

alternatives?

YES QUESTIONABLE HIGH

Reduce atmos. warming? Some rgns deposit to Arctic?*

HIGH PROBABLE MAYBE HIGH OPEN QNS HIGH IN PIPELINE IN PIPELINE SOME

Implemen- tation?

CHALLENGING NEED PUSH NEED PUSH NEED PUSH

* Confidence applies to some emitting regions; other emissions may not transport

MANY YES