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In addition to being a hazardous air pollutant, Black Carbon is the second-largest contributor to Arctic warming. Its mitigation is being addressed at the international regulatory level by the Arctic Council and the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Whilst the Convention and its protocols are binding documents, the Black Carbon regulation under their framework appears to have 'soft law' characteristics. At the same time, the voluntary Black Carbon and Methane Framework, adopted by the Arctic Council, demonstrates positive compliance and follow-up dynamics compared to earlier norm-creating attempts. This paper argues that the nature of the norm (binding or non-binding) is not the decisive factor regarding effective implementation in the Arctic region. Current efforts to mitigate Black Carbon by means of a non-binding Arctic Council Black Carbon and Methane Framework represent an improvement in the Council's normative function and may have more effect on the behaviour of Arctic States than relevant provisions under the Gothenburg Protocol to the CLRTAP. To support this argument, the first section presents an overview of the Arctic Council as an actor in Arctic policy-making. It then provides an assessment of current efforts to combat Black Carbon carried out by the Arctic Council and the CLRTAP.(Published: November 2016)Citation: D. Shapovalova. ''The Effectiveness of the Regulatory Regime for Black Carbon Mitigation in the Arctic.'' Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2016, pp. 136–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.427

Black carbon (BC) has been simulated for south-west Spain with the air quality model CAMx driven by the MM5 meteorological model, with a spatial resolution of 2 km x 2 km and a temporal resolution of 1 h. The simulation results were evaluated against hourly equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations obtained in the cities of Seville and Huelva for a winter period (January 2013) and a summer period (June 2013). A large seasonal variability was observed in PM2.5 EBC concentration in the two cities, with higher concentrations in wintertime; summertime EBC concentrations were typically less than half those of the wintertime. The model captured the large diurnal, seasonal and day to day variability in these urban areas, mean biases ranged between -0.14 and 0.07 mu g m(-3) in winter and between 0.01 and 0.29 mu g m(-3) in summer while hourly PM2.5 EBC observations ranged between 0.03 mu g m(-3) to 10.9 mu g m(-3). The diurnal variation in EBC concentrations was bimodal, with a morning and evening peak. However, the EBC evening peak was much smaller in summer than in winter. The modelling analysis demonstrates that the seasonal and day to day variability in EBC concentration in these urban areas is primarily driven by the variation in meteorological conditions. An evaluation of the role of regional versus local contributions to EBC concentrations indicates that in the medium size city of Seville, local on-road sources are dominant, whereas in the small size city of Huelva, local as well as regional sources produce a similar contribution. Considering the large diesel share of the vehicle fleet in Spain (currently similar to 56%), we conclude that continued reduction of BC from diesel on-road sources in these urban areas is indeed a priority, and we suggest that targeted mitigation strategies, for example reducing the heaviest emitters in wintertime, would yield the greatest benefits. ; The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Government of Andalusia ...

Black carbon (BC) has been simulated for south-west Spain with the air quality model CAMx driven by the MM5 meteorological model, with a spatial resolution of 2 km × 2 km and a temporal resolution of 1 h. The simulation results were evaluated against hourly equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations obtained in the cities of Seville and Huelva for a winter period (January 2013) and a summer period (June 2013). A large seasonal variability was observed in PM2.5 EBC concentration in the two cities, with higher concentrations in wintertime; summertime EBC concentrations were typically less than half those of the wintertime. The model captured the large diurnal, seasonal and day to day variability in these urban areas, mean biases ranged between −0.14 and 0.07 μg m−3 in winter and between 0.01 and 0.29 μg m−3 in summer while hourly PM2.5 EBC observations ranged between 0.03 μg m−3 to 10.9 μg m−3. The diurnal variation in EBC concentrations was bimodal, with a morning and evening peak. However, the EBC evening peak was much smaller in summer than in winter. The modelling analysis demonstrates that the seasonal and day to day variability in EBC concentration in these urban areas is primarily driven by the variation in meteorological conditions. An evaluation of the role of regional versus local contributions to EBC concentrations indicates that in the medium size city of Seville, local on-road sources are dominant, whereas in the small size city of Huelva, local as well as regional sources produce a similar contribution. Considering the large diesel share of the vehicle fleet in Spain (currently ∼ 56%), we conclude that continued reduction of BC from diesel on-road sources in these urban areas is indeed a priority, and we suggest that targeted mitigation strategies, for example reducing the heaviest emitters in wintertime, would yield the greatest benefits. ; The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Government of Andalusia through the research projects SIMAND (P07-RNM-02729) and (2011RNM-7800) and from the Department of Environment, Andalusian Regional Government (project: 199/2011/C/00). In addition, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for funding through the project POLLINDUST (CGL2011-26259). We would also like to thank the Government of Andalusia for providing data from their Air Quality Network and from their Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and AEMET for providing meteorological data. We also thank Dr. Fantine Ngan for providing the GEOS-Chem data.

Radiation fog episodes are characterized by aerosol radiative properties measured at Hefei in urban central China, which hopefully benefits numerical weather prediction and air quality improvement for local governments. In this study, a high mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) is seen over Hefei during the sampling period, whereas an AOD of ~3.0 at 550 nm is observed during the fog episodes. We redefine the fog scavenging coefficient based on its starting and ending points in time, and a black carbon (BC) scavenging coefficient of 30% is observed. Meanwhile, the fog process cannot reduce aerosol number concentrations at size bins between 0.5 and 0.6 μm, whereas a mean particle scavenging coefficient of 21% at sizes within 0.6–1 μm is seen. Significantly large median aerosol scattering coefficient (2690 Mm−1) and absorption coefficient (446 Mm−1) at 550 nm, and low scattering Angstrom exponent in fog are observed, while distinctive particle size distributions between fog and haze are shown. Particle mean size distribution in fog is lower than that in haze at size bins between 0.7 and 2.1 μm, whereas the reverse is true for sizes within 0.5–0.7 μm and larger than 2.1 μm. Aerosol scattering during fog episodes undergoes a bigger increase than particle absorption, and this increase of scattering in fog is even higher than in haze. Median single scattering albedos of 0.86, 0.82, and 0.76 at 550 nm and aerosol radiative forcing efficiencies of −15.0, −14.0, and −10.0 W/m2 are seen for fog, haze and clear periods, respectively, and more negative radiative forcing efficiency emphasizes the significance of fog episodes on climate forcing. Our study clearly reveals the changes of aerosol radiative properties during radiation fog, particularly a synchronous variation of fog aerosol backscattering ratio with the visibility, indicating that more large particles are formed with fog becoming thicker and are scavenged with the dissipation of fog.

Following the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19 in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) and its spread to the rest of the world, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Without effective treatment in the initial pandemic phase, social distancing and mandatory quarantines were introduced as the only available preventative measure. In contrast to the detrimental societal impacts, air quality improved in all countries in which strict lockdowns were applied, due to lower pollutant emissions. Here we investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe on ambient black carbon (BC), which affects climate and damages health, using in situ observations from 17 European stations in a Bayesian inversion framework. BC emissions declined by 23 kt in Europe (20 % in Italy, 40 % in Germany, 34 % in Spain, 22 % in France) during lockdowns compared to the same period in the previous 5 years, which is partially attributed to COVID-19 measures. BC temporal variation in the countries enduring the most drastic restrictions showed the most distinct lockdown impacts. Increased particle light absorption in the beginning of the lockdown, confirmed by assimilated satellite and remote sensing data, suggests residential combustion was the dominant BC source. Accordingly, in central and Eastern Europe, which experienced lower than average temperatures, BC was elevated compared to the previous 5 years. Nevertheless, an average decrease of 11 % was seen for the whole of Europe compared to the start of the lockdown period, with the highest peaks in France (42 %), Germany (21 %), UK (13 %), Spain (11 %) and Italy (8 %). Such a decrease was not seen in the previous years, which also confirms the impact of COVID-19 on the European emissions of BC. ; his study has been supported by the Research Council of Norway (project ID: 275407, COMBAT – Quantification of Global Ammonia Sources constrained by a Bayesian Inversion Technique). Nikolaos Evangeliou and Sabine Eckhardt received funding from the Arctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP). John Backman was supported by the Academy of Finland project Novel Assessment of Black Carbon in the Eurasian Arctic: From Historical Concentrations and Sources to Future Climate Impacts (NABCEA; project no. 296302), the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence programme (project no. 307331) and COST Action CA16109 Chemical On-Line cOmpoSition and Source Apportionment of fine aerosoL, COLOSSAL. The research leading to the ACTRIS measurements has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research And Innovation programme (grant agreement no. 654109) and the Cloudnet project (European Union contract EVK2-2000-00611). ; Peer reviewed

Background: Few studies have investigated the 24-hour respiratory health effects of personal black carbon (BC) and ultrafine particles (UFP) exposure in schoolchildren. The objective of this study was to investigate these associations with the lung function in children 10-years old with and without persistent respiratory symptoms. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 305 children (147 and 158 with and without persistent respiratory symptoms, respectively) from three European birth-cohorts: PARIS (France) and INMA Sabadell and Valencia (Spain). Personal 24-hour measurements of exposure concentrations to BC and UFP were performed by portable devices, before lung function testing. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) were determined. Results: There was no association of UFP with lung function parameters or FeNO whereas the increase in 24-hour BC exposure concentrations was related to a statistically significant decrease in lung function parameters only among children with persistent respiratory symptoms [-96.8 mL (95% Confidence Interval CI: -184.4 to -9.1 mL) in FVC, and -107.2 mL (95% CI: -177.5 to -36.9 mL) in FEV1 for an inter-quartile range of 1160 ng/m3 exposure increase]. A significant positive association between BC and FeNO was observed only in children with persistent respiratory symptoms with current wheezing and/or medication to improve breathing [FeNO increases with +6.9 ppb (95% CI: 0.7 to 13.1 ppb) with an inter-quartile range BC exposure increase]. Conclusion: Children suffering from persistent respiratory symptoms appear to be more vulnerable to BC exposure. ; The study in Sabadell was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III Red INMA (G03/176; CB06/02/0041; PI041436; PI081151 incl. FEDER funds; PI12/01890 incl. FEDER funds; CP13/00054 incl. FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 19995GR 00241, Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR (2009 SGR 501, 2014 SGR 822), Fundació la Marató de TV3 (090430), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2012-32991 incl. FEDER funds), EU Commission (261357, 308333 and 603794), the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007/2013) under grant agreements 308333-HELIX Project and 308610-EXPOSOMICS Project. Dr Maribel Casas received funding from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) (MS16/00128). The study in Valencia was funded by grants from European Union (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5-1), Spain: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-FEDER funds: PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI12/00610, PI13/1944, PI13/02032, PI14/00891, PI14/01687, and PI16/1288; Miguel Servet-FEDER CP11/00178, CP15/00025, and CPII16/00051), and Generalitat Valenciana: FISABIO (UGP 15-230, UGP-15-244, and UGP-15-249).

Im Rahmen des hier dargestellten Projektes ist eine Black Carbon (BC)-Messkampagne an der Universität Rostock erfolgreich ausgeführt worden. Die Messkampagne wurde vom 11. bis zum 22. Juli 2016 von der Universität Rostock, dem National Research Council Canada (NRC), dem Helmholtz Zentrum München und AVL durchgeführt - unterstützt durch Marena Ltd., CE Delft und das Öko-Institut. Die Messungen sind an dem Motorenprüfstand im Labor der Universität Rostock unter Verwendung eines einzylindrigen Dieselmotors mit Direkteinspritzung (1VDS18/15CR), sechs BC-Messinstrumenten (PAX, LII-1, LII-2, TOA, AVL 415SE und MSS), unter Verwendung drei verschiedener Treibstoffe und bei verschiedenen Motorleistungen durchgeführt worden. Nach der Messkampagne sind die Messergebnisse analysiert und in drei Submissionen beim Unterausschuss für die Verhütung und Bekämpfung der Meeresverschmutzung (PPR) der Internationale Seeschifffahrts-Organisation (IMO) veröffentlicht worden; zwei Submissionen zur vierten Sitzung des PPR in 2017 (PPR4/INF9, PPR4/9/4) und eine Submission zur fünften Sitzung des PPR in 2018 (PPR 5/INF.10). Diese Submissionen sind gemeinsam von Kanada und Deutschland eingereicht worden. Sie wurden in Zusammenarbeit von Marena Ltd., dem NRC Canada, der Universität Rostock, AVL, dem Umweltbundesamt und den zuständigen Ministerien der beiden Staaten erarbeitet. In der Submission PPR4/INF.9 "Technical details of a multi-instrument Black Carbon measurement campaign" sind die technischen Details der Messkampagne und in der PPR4/9/4 Submission "Results of a multi-instrument Black Carbon measurement campaign" sind die Ergebnisse der BC-Messungen dargestellt worden. In der dritten Submission PPR 5/INF.10, "New findings of a multi-instrument Black Carbon measurement campaign" sind nach weiteren Analysen der Messdaten weitere Ergebnisse präsentiert worden.

This study has been supported by the Research Council of Norway (project ID: 275407, COMBAT - Quantification of Global Ammonia Sources constrained by a Bayesian Inversion Technique). Nikolaos Evangeliou and Sabine Eckhardt received funding from the Arctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP). John Backman was supported by the Academy of Finland project Novel Assessment of Black Carbon in the Eurasian Arctic: From Historical Concentrations and Sources to Future Climate Impacts (NABCEA; project no. 296302), the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence programme (project no. 307331) and COST Action CA16109 Chemical On-Line cOmpoSition and Source Apportionment of fine aerosoL, COLOSSAL. The research leading to the ACTRIS measurements has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research And Innovation programme (grant agreement no. 654109) and the Cloudnet project (European Union contract EVK2-2000-00611). ; All measurement data and model outputs used for the present publication are publicly available and can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.21336/gen.b5vj-sn33 (Evangeliou et al., 2020) or upon request to the corresponding author. All prior emission datasets are also available for download. ECLIPSE emissions can be obtained from http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/researchPrograms/air/Global_emissions.html (Klimont et al., 2017), EDGAR version HTAP_V2.2 from http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/methodology.php# (Janssens-Maenhout et al., 2015), ACCMIP version 5 from http://accent.aero.jussieu.fr/ACCMIP_metadata.php (Lamarque et al., 2010) and PKU from http://inventory.pku.edu.cn (Peking University, 2021). FLEXPART is publicly available and can be downloaded from https://www.flexpart.eu (Pisso et al., 2019) and FLEXINVERT+ from https://flexinvert.nilu.no (Thompson and Stohl, 2014). MERRA-2 reanalysis data can be obtained from https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov (NASA Earth Data, 2021) and AERONET measurements from https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov (Holben et al., 1998). ; The supplement related to this article is available online at: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2675-2021-supplement. ; Following the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19 in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) and its spread to the rest of the world, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Without effective treatment in the initial pandemic phase, social distancing and mandatory quarantines were introduced as the only available preventative measure. In contrast to the detrimental societal impacts, air quality improved in all countries in which strict lockdowns were applied, due to lower pollutant emissions. Here we investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe on ambient black carbon (BC), which affects climate and damages health, using in situ observations from 17 European stations in a Bayesian inversion framework. BC emissions declined by 23 kt in Europe (20 % in Italy, 40 % in Germany, 34 % in Spain, 22 % in France) during lockdowns compared to the same period in the previous 5 years, which is partially attributed to COVID-19 measures. BC temporal variation in the countries enduring the most drastic restrictions showed the most distinct lockdown impacts. Increased particle light absorption in the beginning of the lockdown, confirmed by assimilated satellite and remote sensing data, suggests residential combustion was the dominant BC source. Accordingly, in central and Eastern Europe, which experienced lower than average temperatures, BC was elevated compared to the previous 5 years. Nevertheless, an average decrease of 11 % was seen for the whole of Europe compared to the start of the lockdown period, with the highest peaks in France (42 %), Germany (21 %), UK (13 %), Spain (11 %) and Italy (8 %). Such a decrease was not seen in the previous years, which also confirms the impact of COVID-19 on the European emissions of BC. ; Research Council of Norway ; rctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP). ; Academy of Finland project Novel Assessment of Black Carbon in the Eurasian Arctic: From Historical Concentrations and Sources to Future Climate Impacts (NABCEA) 296302 ; Academy of Finland 307331 ; European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) CA16109 ; European Union's Horizon 2020 Research And Innovation programme 654109 ; Cloudnet project European Union EVK2-2000-00611

In addition to being a hazardous air pollutant, Black Carbon is the second-largest contributor to Arctic warming. Its mitigation is being addressed at the international regulatory level by the Arctic Council and the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Whilst the Convention and its protocols are binding documents, the Black Carbon regulation under their framework appears to have 'soft law' characteristics. At the same time, the voluntary Black Carbon and Methane Framework, adopted by the Arctic Council, demonstrates positive compliance and follow-up dynamics compared to earlier norm-creating attempts. This paper argues that the nature of the norm (binding or non-binding) is not the decisive factor regarding effective implementation in the Arctic region. Current efforts to mitigate Black Carbon by means of a non-binding Arctic Council Black Carbon and Methane Framework represent an improvement in the Council's normative function and may have more effect on the behaviour of Arctic States than relevant provisions under the Gothenburg Protocol to the CLRTAP. To support this argument, the first section presents an overview of the Arctic Council as an actor in Arctic policy-making. It then provides an assessment of current efforts to combat Black Carbon carried out by the Arctic Council and the CLRTAP.(Published: November 2016)Citation: D. Shapovalova. ''The Effectiveness of the Regulatory Regime for Black Carbon Mitigation in the Arctic.'' Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2016, pp. 136–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.427