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Results for the solar heating rates in ambient air due to absorption by black-carbon (BC) containing particles and ozone are presented as calculated from airborne observations made in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) in January-February 2006. The method uses airborne in situ observations of BC particles, ozone and actinic flux. Total BC mass is obtained along the flight track by summing the masses of individually detected BC particles in the range 90 to 600-nm volume-equivalent diameter, which includes most of the BC mass. Ozone mixing ratios and upwelling and partial downwelling solar actinic fluxes were measured concurrently with BC mass. Two estimates used for the BC wavelength-dependent absorption cross section yielded similar heating rates. For mean altitudes of 16.5, 17.5, and 18.5 km (0.5 km) in the tropics, average BC heating rates were near 0.0002 K/d. Observed BC coatings on individual particles approximately double derived BC heating rates. Ozone heating rates exceeded BC heating rates by approximately a factor of 100 on average and at least a factor of 4, suggesting that BC heating rates in this region are negligible in comparison.

A single-particle soot photometer (SP2) was flown on a NASA WB-57F high-altitude research aircraft in November 2004 from Houston, Texas. The SP2 uses laser-induced incandescence to detect individual black carbon (BC) particles in an air sample in the mass range of approx.3-300 fg (approx.0.15-0.7 microns volume equivalent diameter). Scattered light is used to size the remaining non-BC aerosols in the range of approx.0.17-0.7 microns diameter. We present profiles of both aerosol types from the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere from two midlatitude flights. Results for total aerosol amounts in the size range detected by the SP2 are in good agreement with typical particle spectrometer measurements in the same region. All ambient incandescing particles were identified as BC because their incandescence properties matched those of laboratory-generated BC aerosol. Approximately 40% of these BC particles showed evidence of internal mixing (e.g., coating). Throughout profiles between 5 and 18.7 km, BC particles were less than a few percent of total aerosol number, and black carbon aerosol (BCA) mass mixing ratio showed a constant gradient with altitude above 5 km. SP2 data was compared to results from the ECHAM4/MADE and LmDzT-INCA global aerosol models. The comparison will help resolve the important systematic differences in model aerosol processes that determine BCA loadings. Further intercomparisons of models and measurements as presented here will improve the accuracy of the radiative forcing contribution from BCA.