Biomass Burning Aerosol Optical Properties: From Laboratory Measurements to Field Observations and Climate Modeling
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerosols".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026 | Viewed by 96
Special Issue Editors
Interests: atmospheric aerosols; new particle formation (NPF); aerosol optical properties; upper-troposphere lower-stratosphere (UTLS); aerosol measurement techniques; airborne instrumentation
Interests: atmospheric aerosols; biomass burning; measurement and modelling of optical properties of aerosols
2. NASA Langley Research Center, 1 Nasa Dr, Hampton, VA 23666, USA
Interests: in situ measurements of aerosols in remote marine environments and their complex data analysis; characterization of ocean ecosystem drivers and anthropogenic perturbations on aerosol and clouds properties in north atlantic; development of mathematical algorithms to improve process-level understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Biomass-burning aerosols emitted into the atmosphere from natural sources and anthropogenic activities have a crucial impact on air quality and the climate. The major components of biomass-burning emissions are represented by refractory black carbon, brown carbon (including high-absorption tarballs), and other organic carbon particles. Combustion conditions, fuel types, and atmospheric aging play a fundamental role in shaping biomass-burning composition and optical properties, which in turn dictate how these aerosols interact with solar radiation and impact the Earth’s energy balance. However, the processes underlying biomass-burning emissions and atmospheric evolution are highly dynamic, leading to large variability in the optical properties of biomass-burning aerosols and complicating their representation in climate models. Currently, the interaction between biomass-burning particles and solar radiation remains among the largest sources of uncertainty regarding the contribution of aerosol to the Earth’s energy budget, limiting the accuracy of future climate model predictions. More comprehensive laboratory and field studies are needed to parameterize the properties of biomass-burning aerosol pertinent to climate forcing—including refractive indices, single scattering albedo, and Angstrom exponents—as functions of aerosol sources, combustion phases, and ages.
This Special Issue will address the critical knowledge gaps in biomass-burning aerosol research, with special emphasis on the intensive and extensive optical properties of aerosols that drive climate-forcing uncertainties. We seek original research that advances biomass-burning aerosol parameterization and improves its representation in climate models; these include, but are not limited to, laboratory measurements, field observations, and multidisciplinary research assessing the behavior of biomass-burning aerosols and mixing regimes as functions of variations in combustion mechanisms and aging time scales. Studies that report measurements of the properties of biomass-burning aerosols for selected single-source fuels, studies that bridge laboratory and field domains, and compilations of the emissions factors of biomass-burning and refractive indices from diverse types of burnings are especially welcome.
Dr. Matthew Brown
Dr. Susan Mathai
Dr. Francesca Gallo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- biomass burning
- aerosols
- optical properties
- aerosol measurements
- climate models
- laboratory experiments
- field measurements
- complex refractive index
- climate
- air quality
- data simulation
- aerosol optical depth
- wildfires
- wildfire emissions
- black carbon
- brown carbon
- carbonaceous aerosols
- smoke plumes
- numerical simulations
- observational studies
- model studies
- modeling
- aging
- oxidation
- cloud processing
- uncertainty analysis
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
