A multi-institutional team of researchers characterized how solar radiation from the sun interacts with individual tar balls dispersed over a mountainous region in northern Italy.
Newswise — Tiny, brown, light-absorbing particles known as tar balls are believed to have a significant impact on Earth’s radiative balance, and as a result, a role in both the warming and cooling of the atmosphere. Tar balls develop in the days following a wildfire, but ihow they form is not yet well-known, which makes it difficult to study their impact.
As part of a Large-Scale Research award from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a multi-institutional team of scientists have been researching how solar radiation from the sun interacts with individual tar balls dispersed over a mountainous region in northern Italy.
Using a combination of spectroscopy tools, the team determined specific optical properties and the refractive index, or the measure of light bending that occurs when passing from one medium to another, of individual tar balls in the region. The team also estimated the particles’ radiative forcing—their impact on the amount of solar energy coming in versus what is radiated back to space.
All of the techniques together help determine the tar balls’ potential for having a cooling or warming effect on the region, as well as indicate their impact on other atmospheric processes such as water and ice formation and resulting precipitation. The information also helps reduce uncertainties in climate models pertaining to atmospheric particles that remain after biomass burning events.
The team’s research was recently featured on the cover of Environmental Science & Technology.
RSS