Black carbon emissions generally underestimated in the global south as revealed by globally distributed measurements
| Published | 31 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41467-025-62468-5 |
Open access (gold)
Carbonaceous aerosols: black carbon and brown carbon Source apportionment and emission sources
Abstract
Characterizing black carbon (BC) on a fine scale globally is essential for understanding its climate and health impacts. However, sparse BC mass measurements in different parts of the world and coarse model resolution have inhibited evaluation of global BC emission inventories. Here, we apply globally distributed BC mass measurements from the Surface Particulate Matter Network (SPARTAN) and complementary measurement networks to evaluate contemporary BC emission inventories. We use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) in its high-performance configuration (GCHP) for high-resolution simulations to relate BC emissions to ambient concentrations for comparison with measurements. Here we find that simulations using the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) emission inventory exhibit skill (r2 = 0.73) in representing variability in SPARTAN measurements across primarily developed regions with low BC concentrations but exhibit pronounced discrepancy (r2 = 0.00019) across high-BC regions in the Global South, underestimating BC by 38%. Alternative inventories (EDGAR, HTAP) yield similar results. These findings motivate renewed attention to the challenging task of characterizing BC emissions from low- and middle-income countries. Using globally consistent measurements and high-resolution modelling, this study finds that black carbon emissions are generally underestimated in the Global South.
Abstract © the authors, published under a CC BY NC ND licence.
Cite this
Yuxuan Ren, Christopher R. Oxford, Dandan Zhang, Xuan Liu, Haihui Zhu, Ann M. Dillner, Warren H. White, Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Sina Hasheminassab, David J. Diner, Emmie J. Le Roy, Joshin Kumar, Valerie Viteri, Keyao Song, Clement Akoshile, Omar Amador-Muñoz, Araya Asfaw, Rachel Ying-Wen Chang, Diana Francis, Paterne Gahungu, Rebecca M. Garland, Michel Grutter, Jhoon Kim, Kristy Langerman, Pei-Chen Lee, Puji Lestari, Olga L. Mayol-Bracero, Mogesh Naidoo, Narendra Nelli, Norm O’Neill, Sang Seo Park, Abdus Salam, Bighnaraj Sarangi, Yoav Schechner, Robyn Schofield, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Eli Windwer, Ming-Tsang Wu, Qiang Zhang, Yinon Rudich, Michael Brauer, Randall V. Martin (2025). Black carbon emissions generally underestimated in the global south as revealed by globally distributed measurements. Nature Communications, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62468-5
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