Abstract Organic aerosol particles (OA) can absorb solar radiation with varying efficiencies depending on their chemical composition and physical properties. This light-absorbing fraction of OA, commonly referred to as brown carbon (BrC), is difficult to accurately represent in climate models due to the inherent diversity of its optical properties. This variability arises from differences in emission sources and atmospheric processing, as well as from variations in experimental design and the analytical methods used to quantify BrC absorption. As a result, the climate effect of BrC remains uncertain. Here, we studied the light absorption properties of surface ambient OA using measurements from 17 sites across Europe. Combining multi-wavelength absorption measurements from filter-based photometers with OA mass concentrations and source apportionment derived from ACSM/AMS data, we derive empirical estimates of the OA mass absorption cross section (MAC OA ), its wavelength dependence (AAE OA ), the OA density (⍴ OA ), and the MAC associated with different primary and secondary OA sources. We further develop parameterizations that relate MAC OA , AAE OA and ⍴ OA to the ambient black carbon-to-organic aerosol ratio (eBC/OA) and propose a corresponding parameterization for the imaginary refractive index (k OA ). Given the widespread availability of eBC and OA measurements in global monitoring networks, the framework presented here provides a practical approach for estimating the absorptive properties of surface OA particles under real-world conditions.
Rovira et al. (Fri,) studied this question.