Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-585
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-585
06 Sep 2022
 | 06 Sep 2022

Winter brown carbon over six China’s megacities: Light absorption, molecular characterization, and improved source apportionment revealed by multilayer perceptron neural network

Diwei Wang, Zhenxing Shen, Qian Zhang, Yali Lei, Tian Zhang, Shasha Huang, Jian Sun, Hongmei Xu, and Junji Cao

Abstract. Brown carbon (BrC) constitutes a large fraction of organic carbon and exhibits strong light absorption properties, thus affecting the global radiation budget. In this study, we investigated the light absorption properties, chemical functional bonds, and sources of BrC in six megacities in China, namely Beijing, Harbin, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Wuhan. The average values of the BrC light absorption coefficient and the mass absorption efficiency at 365 nm in northern cities were higher than those in southern cities by 2.5 and 1.8 times, respectively, demonstrating the occurrence of abundance of BrC in northern China’s megacities. Fourier transform–infrared (FT-IR) spectra revealed sharp and intense peaks at 1640, 1458–1385, and 1090–1030 cm−1, which were ascribed to aromatic phenols, confirming the contribution of primary emission sources (e.g., biomass burning and coal combustion) to BrC. In addition, we noted peaks at 860, 1280–1260, and 1640 cm−1, which were attributed to organonitrate and oxygenated phenolic groups, indicating that secondary BrC also existed in six megacities. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) coupled with multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network analysis were used to apportion the sources of BrC light absorption. The results showed that primary emissions (e.g., biomass burning, tailpipe emissions, and coal combustion) made a major contribution to BrC in six megacities. However, secondary formation processes made a greater contribution to light absorption in the southern cities (17.9 %–21.2 %) than in the northern cities (2.1 %–10.2 %). These results can provide a basis for the more effective control of BrC to reduce its impacts on regional climates and human health.

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

23 Nov 2022
Winter brown carbon over six of China's megacities: light absorption, molecular characterization, and improved source apportionment revealed by multilayer perceptron neural network
Diwei Wang, Zhenxing Shen, Qian Zhang, Yali Lei, Tian Zhang, Shasha Huang, Jian Sun, Hongmei Xu, and Junji Cao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14893–14904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14893-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14893-2022, 2022
Short summary

Diwei Wang et al.

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-585', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Sep 2022
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Zhenxing Shen, 08 Oct 2022
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-585', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Sep 2022
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC2', Zhenxing Shen, 08 Oct 2022

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-585', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Sep 2022
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Zhenxing Shen, 08 Oct 2022
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-585', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Sep 2022
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC2', Zhenxing Shen, 08 Oct 2022

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
AR by Zhenxing Shen on behalf of the Authors (23 Oct 2022)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Publish as is (26 Oct 2022) by Dantong Liu
AR by Zhenxing Shen on behalf of the Authors (02 Nov 2022)  Author's response   Manuscript 

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

23 Nov 2022
Winter brown carbon over six of China's megacities: light absorption, molecular characterization, and improved source apportionment revealed by multilayer perceptron neural network
Diwei Wang, Zhenxing Shen, Qian Zhang, Yali Lei, Tian Zhang, Shasha Huang, Jian Sun, Hongmei Xu, and Junji Cao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14893–14904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14893-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14893-2022, 2022
Short summary

Diwei Wang et al.

Data sets

Winter brown carbon over six China's megacities: Light absorption, molecular characterization, and improved source apportionment revealed by multilayer perceptron neural network Wang Diwei https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6790321

Diwei Wang et al.

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Short summary
The optical properties and molecular structure of atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) in winter of several megacities in China were analyzed, and the source contribution of brown carbon was improved by using positive matrix factorization coupled with multilayer perceptron neural network. These results can provide a basis for the more effective control of BrC to reduce its impacts on regional climates and human health.