npj Climate and Atmospheric Science ( IF 8.5 ) Pub Date : 2018-12-21 , DOI: 10.1038/s41612-018-0056-2 Yunjiang Zhang , Olivier Favez , Francesco Canonaco , Dantong Liu , Griša Močnik , Tanguy Amodeo , Jean Sciare , André S. H. Prévôt , Valérie Gros , Alexandre Albinet
Atmospheric black carbon (BC) has a strong positive, but still controversial, effect on global warming. In particular, BC absorption enhancement (Eabs) due to internal mixing with other chemical species—so-called lensing effect—is poorly assessed. This bottleneck partly relies on the lack of long-term in situ measurements of both the optical and chemical properties of BC-containing particles. Here, we present experimental and computational results showing a significant Eabs increase with the aerosol photochemical aging. This was associated with the production of highly oxidized secondary organic aerosols (SOA), especially at summertime. The 3-year-long continuous aerosol chemical and optical measurements used for the present study was obtained in the Paris region, France, which might be representative of near-future air quality within developing countries. These findings suggest that SOA could represent one of the most critical chemical species to be considered within climate models.