TY - JOUR
T1 - Tracing carbonaceous aerosols through trace gas–aerosol relationships in urban pollution plumes
AU - Deroubaix, Adrien
AU - Vountas, Marco
AU - Andrés Hernández, Maria Dolores
AU - Brasseur, Guy P.
AU - Gaubert, Benjamin
AU - Holanda, Bruna
AU - Kanaya, Yugo
AU - Kaiser, Katharina
AU - Kluge, Flora
AU - Krüger, Ovid Oktavian
AU - Labuhn, Inga
AU - Lichtenstern, Michael
AU - Pfeilsticker, Klaus
AU - Pöhlker, Mira
AU - Schlager, Hans
AU - Schneider, Johannes
AU - Siour, Guillaume
AU - Swain, Basudev
AU - Tuccella, Paolo
AU - Vinjamuri, Kameswara S.
AU - Vrekoussis, Mihalis
AU - Weyland, Benjamin
AU - Burrows, John P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026.
PY - 2026/12
Y1 - 2026/12
N2 - Understanding the composition of carbonaceous aerosols, black carbon (BC) and organic aerosols (OA), remains a major challenge in atmospheric science. Using data from two aircraft campaigns with identical instrumentation over Europe and East Asia, we analyze statistical relationships between concentrations of five trace gases (CO, NO2, HCHO, O3, and SO2) with BC and OA in order to estimate carbonaceous aerosol in urban pollution plumes. We show that across both campaigns, CO is the best proxy for BC (R2 ≈ 0.6). In plumes, OA shows statistical links with NO2, O3, and CO, reflecting the combined influence of emissions, and secondary organic aerosol formation. Linear regressions based on trace gases remain limited, especially for OA, whereas the use of nonlinear machine-learning regression improves the quantification of BC and OA (R2 ≈ 0.9 for BC, R2 ≈ 0.7 for OA). However, the number of flights is limited, the results should not be interpreted as applicable to flights in other regions and seasons. Our findings indicate that co-emitted and co-produced trace gases contain information for quantifying carbonaceous aerosol in urban pollution plumes. This potential is more robust for BC, whereas OA remains more complex to estimate because it depends on multiple predictors.
AB - Understanding the composition of carbonaceous aerosols, black carbon (BC) and organic aerosols (OA), remains a major challenge in atmospheric science. Using data from two aircraft campaigns with identical instrumentation over Europe and East Asia, we analyze statistical relationships between concentrations of five trace gases (CO, NO2, HCHO, O3, and SO2) with BC and OA in order to estimate carbonaceous aerosol in urban pollution plumes. We show that across both campaigns, CO is the best proxy for BC (R2 ≈ 0.6). In plumes, OA shows statistical links with NO2, O3, and CO, reflecting the combined influence of emissions, and secondary organic aerosol formation. Linear regressions based on trace gases remain limited, especially for OA, whereas the use of nonlinear machine-learning regression improves the quantification of BC and OA (R2 ≈ 0.9 for BC, R2 ≈ 0.7 for OA). However, the number of flights is limited, the results should not be interpreted as applicable to flights in other regions and seasons. Our findings indicate that co-emitted and co-produced trace gases contain information for quantifying carbonaceous aerosol in urban pollution plumes. This potential is more robust for BC, whereas OA remains more complex to estimate because it depends on multiple predictors.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043610419
U2 - 10.1038/s41612-026-01456-y
DO - 10.1038/s41612-026-01456-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105043610419
SN - 2397-3722
VL - 9
JO - npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
JF - npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
IS - 1
M1 - 146
ER -