A Global Black Carbon Aerosol Model

A global inventory has been constructed for emissions of black carbon from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning. This inventory has been implemented in a 3D global transport model and run for 31 model months. Results for January and July have been compared with measurements taken from the literature. The model values of black carbon mass concentration compare within a factor of 2 in continental regions and some remote regions but are higher than measured values in other remote marine regions and in the upper troposphere. The disagreement in remote regions can be explained by the coarse grid scale of the model (10* x 10*), the simplicity of the current deposition scheme, and possibly too much black carbon being available for transport, which would also account for the disagreement in the upper troposphere. The disagreement may also be due to problems associated with the measurment of black carbon. Emissions from this database appear to provide a reasonable estimate of the annual emissions of black carbon to the atrmosphere.JRC.(EI)-Environment Institut