| 17 Aug 2026
Environmental impacts of polarity-resolved water-soluble organic matter from animal dung burning on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Abstract. Animal dung was widely used for rural heating and cooking on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), its contributions to climate-relevant and health-related aerosol properties remain poorly understood. In this study, water-soluble organic matter (WSOM), which separated into neutral humic-like substances (HULIS-n), acidic humic-like substances (HULIS-a), and highly polar WSOM (HP-WSOM), in PM2.5 from yak and sheep dung on the QTP were conducted to evaluate their radiative forcing and oxidative potential (OP). It showed that HULIS-a and HULIS-n exhibited the highest emission factors under heating (0.80±0.46 g/kg) and cooking (0.35±0.36 g/kg) scenarios, respectively. HULIS-n exhibited the strongest light absorption compared to the highest OP for HP-WSOM. Total WSOM-C emissions from animal dung combustion on the QTP were 7.5 Gg and 2.0 Gg for heating and non-heating season, with sheep dung for heating contributing the largest (40.6 %). Spatial distributions of radiative forcing and OP were highly correlated with the intensity of sheep dung. The estimated radiative forcing of WSOM corresponded to 10.9–34.7 % of black carbon, suggesting that WSOM may be an important contributor to regional atmospheric warming and cryosphere change on the QTP. Scenario analysis showed that replacing 50 % of sheep dung combustion with yak dung could reduce regional radiative forcing and OP by 2.4×104 MW/km2 and 948.8 (AU s-1g-1)/km2. These findings highlight the importance of animal dung combustion to light-absorbing and redox-active organic aerosols on the QTP and provide scientific support for cleaner household energy strategies and fuel-use optimization in the region.
This manuscript investigates the emissions, optical properties, and oxidative potential of polarity-resolved water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) generated by yak and sheep dung combustion on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Based on the measurement results, the authors also discussed the climate and health impacts of WSOM. The topic of this manuscript falls well within the scope of ACP. I think it could be considered for publication after the following concerns were properly addressed.
Major points
1. Some key information should be moved to the main manuscript, including the definitions of “heating and cooking scenarios” (section 2.1) and more details for the FT-IR and OP analyses (section 2.3).
2. Section 3.4, a key point was “a practical mitigation strategy may involve composting a larger fraction of sheep dung for agricultural application while preferentially using yak dung as a household fuel for cooking and heating.” Suggest toning down this statement (here and elsewhere in the manuscript), since only WSOM was considered in this study whereas other PM components (e.g., BC) were not involved.
3. Section 3.4 and section 4, I think it’s better to present “conclusions” first, followed by “implications”. In addition, duplicate information should be removed, e.g., the numbers in Lines 365 and 407.
Minor points
1. The title should be reconsidered. To my understanding, the “environmental impacts” typically do not include health effects.
2. Line 16, add a “while” before “its contribution”.
3. Lines 17-21, this sentence is difficult to follow, re-organize it.
4. Lines 28 and 402, suggest removing the fractions, since the SFE of BC was from a completely different study.
5. Lines 110-112, check this sentence.