Relationship between light absorbing carbonaceous particulate emissions and biomass combustion conditions

Carbonaceous materials constitute a large fraction of the ambient aerosol. This fraction has a considerable effect on earth’s radiative balance by absorbing and scattering incoming solar radiation. Organic carbon (OC) is thought to have a cooling effect on the climate. However, it has been shown that the OC can be highly light absorbing in the UV-range (Kirchstetter et al., 2004), this fraction is often referred to as brown carbon (BrC). Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a major source of BrC. However, there is poor knowledge about the relationship between combustion conditions and BrC emissions. For example, the impacts of stove operation parameters and the relationship to total OC emissions. Here we studied the optical properties and chemical composition of RWC emissions during different burn phases. METHODS