Abstract

Black carbon (BC, also known as soot), the most important light-absorbing aerosol, has been recently identified as the second most significant anthropogenic contributor to global warming in the present-day atmosphere after carbon dioxide. However, the current estimate of BC radiative effects is s... Show moreBlack carbon (BC, also known as soot), the most important light-absorbing aerosol, has been recently identified as the second most significant anthropogenic contributor to global warming in the present-day atmosphere after carbon dioxide. However, the current estimate of BC radiative effects is still subject to large uncertainties. One important uncertainty source is the substantial variation of BC radiative properties caused by complex structures during its evolution in the atmosphere. This chapter reviews recent scientific advances in understanding and quantifying the impact of BC particle structure/morphology on its radiative properties. We first present observational evidences of various irregular BC particle structures under different environmental conditions. We then briefly summarize several widely-used methods that compute radiative properties of particles with complex structures. Furthermore, we quantitatively describe the morphological/structural effects on BC radiative properties based on observations and theoretical calculations. Finally, we provide associated climatic implications and give future research directions for further advancing the understanding in this topic. Show less