The Droplet Activation Parameterization for Black Carbon‐Containing Particles in Steady State
Abstract The model representation of black carbon (BC) mixing state—referring to how BC is combined with other aerosol components within individual particles—introduces significant uncertainty in estimating BC's climate impacts. The cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) properties of BC‐containing (BCc) particles are influenced by the amount of secondary aerosol coating, which is unevenly distributed across BC cores. This distribution complicates accurate predictions of CCN activities. The size distribution of BCc particles remains approximately unchanged as they continuously undergo both growth and deposition, forming a steady state. Based on this, we develop a droplet activation parameterization to predict the number distribution of BCc particles with respect to hygroscopicity and dry particle diameter. The predicted results demonstrate good agreement with those directly obtained from observations and simulations. This study evaluates the BC activation behavior accurately by using a few parameters, facilitating improved assessment of BC's indirect radiative effects in large‐scale models.
Authors
- Bin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8438-9188)
- Nicole Riemer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3220-3457)
- Hang Su (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4889-1669)
- Zhouyang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1613-5068)
- Minghuai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9179-228X)
- Jiaping Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4947-4253)
- Ganzhen Chen
- Yuzhi Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3420-2675)
- Jianlin Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5694-4794)
- Yafang Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4912-9879)
- Aijun Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4481-5386)
- Bin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2712-9045)
- Shuxiao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9727-1963)
- Jiandong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3000-622X)
- Chao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7049-493X)
- Sunan Shen
- Zeyuan Tian
Institutions
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE)
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl114433
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province