Effects of black carbon morphology on the brown carbon absorption estimation: from numerical aspects

Abstract. In this work, we developed a numerical method to investigate the effects of black carbon morphology on the estimation of brown carbon (BrC) absorption using the Absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) method. Pseudo measurements of the total absorption were generated based on several morphologically mixed black carbon (BC) models, then the BrC absorption was inferred based on different AAE methods. By comparing the estimated BrC absorption with True BrC absorption, we found that both AAE = 1 and Mie AAE methods do not provide accurate estimation for the BrC absorption, and the estimated BrC absorption can deviate several times from True BrC absorption. The newly proposed Wavelength Dependent AAE (WDA) method does not necessarily improve the estimations, sometimes it may even provide worse estimations than the AAE = 1 and Mie AAE methods. Fixing the fractal dimension to be 1.8, the deviation between the estimated BrC mass absorption cross-section (MAC) and True BrC MAC can reach approximately 9 m²/g, which is far more than brown carbon MAC itself. Therefore, the estimation of BrC absorption based on the AAE method should carefully consider the morphological effects of BC. Our findings highlight the BC morphological effects on the BrC absorption estimation.