Vakkari, VilleBeukes, Johan PaulTiitta, PetriVan Zyl, Pieter G.Josipovic, MiroslavVenter, Andrew D.Jaars, KerneelsLaakso, Lauri2016-01-192016-01-192014Vakkari, V. et al. 2014. Rapid changes in biomass burning aerosols by atmospheric oxidation. Geophysical research letters, 41:2644-2651. [https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL059396]0094-82761944-8007 (Online)http://hdl.handle.net/10394/15917https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL059396https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2014GL059396Primary and secondary aerosol particles originating from biomass burning contribute significantly to the atmospheric aerosol budget and thereby to both direct and indirect radiative forcing. Based on detailed measurements of a large number of biomass burning plumes of variable age in southern Africa, we show that the size distribution, chemical composition, single-scattering albedo, and hygroscopicity of biomass burning particles change considerably during the first 2–4 h of their atmospheric transport. These changes, driven by atmospheric oxidation and subsequent secondary aerosol formation, may reach a factor of 6 for the aerosol scattering coefficient and a factor >10 for the cloud condensation nuclei concentration. Since the observed changes take place over the spatial and temporal scales that are neither covered by emission inventories nor captured by large-scale model simulations, the findings reported here point out a significant gap in our understanding on the climatic effects of biomass burning aerosolsenAerosols and particlesLand/atmosphere interactionsAtmospheric processesArticle