The Single-Scattering Albedo of Black Carbon Aerosols in China

Black carbon (BC) aerosols have attracted wide attention over the world due to their significant climate effects on local and global scales. BC extinction aerosol optical thickness (AOT), scattering AOT, and single scattering albedo (SSA) over China are systematically studied based on the MERRA-2 satellite reanalysis data from 1983 to 2022 in terms of the spatial, yearly, seasonal, and monthly variations. The extinction and scattering AOTs of BC show similar spatial distribution, with high values in eastern and southern China, generally as opposed to BC SSA. A decrease in BC extinction and scattering AOTs has been documented over the last decade. The mean BC extinction AOT, scattering AOT, and SSA over China are 0.0054, 0.0014, and 0.26, respectively. The BC SSA showed small variations during 1983–2022, although a high BC extinction AOT and scattering AOT have been seen in the last two decades. During different decades, the seasonal patterns of BC extinction and scattering AOTs may differ, whereas the BC SSA shows seasonal consistency. Significant monthly variations in the BC SSA are seen over four decades, which are in agreement with their seasonal patterns. The mean BC extinction AOTs are 0.037, 0.033, 0.023, and 0.0054, whereas the average BC scattering AOTs are 0.0088, 0.0082, 0.0060, and 0.0014 in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region, and Tarim Basin (TB), respectively. It is interesting to see that BC SSA values in the TB region are generally higher than those over the PRD, YRD and BTH areas, whereas the reverse is true for BC extinction and scattering AOTs. This study provides references for further research on black carbon aerosols and air pollution in China.