Химия в интересах устойчивого развития 24 (2016) 459465 UDC 504.3.054 + 543.544.054.9 DOI: 10.15372/KhUR20160405 Long-Term Trends in Black (Elemental) Carbon Concentrations in the Ambient Air of West Siberia and the White Sea Region V. I. MAKAROV1, S. A. POPOVA1 and V. P. SHEVCHENKO2 1Voevodsky Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia 2Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Abstract The work presents concentrations of elemental carbon (ЕС) in atmospheric aerosol samples, collected on fibreglass aerosol filters in the Novosibirsk region, in the northwest of the Siberian region, and in the White Sea Region from 1999 to 2015 and measured by the method of reaction gas chromatography. <...> The year-to-year progress, seasonal and daily variations of EC concentration at observation sites, as well as the influence of distant wood fires on the content of EC in the sites with different degrees of anthropogenic stress. <...> The HYSPLIT model is used to estimate the sources of the formation of EC-containing aerosols. <...> Key words: elemental carbon in the ambient air, long-term trends, thermal method, wood burning, West Siberia, the White Sea, HYSPLIT INTRODUCTION Black carbon (ВС), often called elemental carbon (ЕС) or soot, is the by-product of the incomplete combustion of various fuels (in particular, coal and diesel fuel), and of biomass (forests, grass, agricultural wastes) [1]. <...> The ВС particles are in the submicron mode but grow in sizes upon propagation in the atmosphere. <...> Thus, these may be transported over hundreds and thousands of km from their source. <...> While most of the suspended particles in the atmosphere reflect the solar radiation, BC strongly absorbs light in the visible and UV regions. <...> The Siberian region is of particular interest, because (i) it directly neighbours the Arctic Seas, and (ii) includes the large clusters of oil and gas producing, mining, industrial, and © Makarov V. I., Popova S. A. and Shevchenko V. P., 2016 agricultural enterprises, that contribute considerably to the technogenic pollution of the atmosphere and of other biospheres. <...> The Russian boreal (northern) forests are estimated to cover 700 million ha. <...> Satellite observations indicate that annually, in the world, fires occur over the area of more than a hundred million ha <...>