Black Carbon Vertical Distributions in Transported Biomass Burning Plumes

During three ATom campaigns, we encountered biomass burning plumes far from their origins, after transport both with and without wet deposition. Here we focus on black carbon (BC) aerosols measured during the mission; BC is a substantial climate forcing and pollution agent, and is strongly sourced by biomass-burning. To address critical uncertainties in understanding BC’s lifetime, and integrated impacts on the atmosphere, we have carried out analysis of the vertical distribution of BC’s concentration in clear biomass burning plumes in conjunction with ancillary information about its microphysical state and association with other gas and aerosol species. We present our findings about the relationships between BC and other species with their variability and dependence on vertical position within plumes.