http://www.newmediastudio.org/DataDiscovery/Aero_Ed_Center/Charact/A.what_are_aerosols.html Black carbon (BC), or carbon black, or elemental carbon (EC), often called soot, is composed of pure carbon clusters, skeleton balls and buckyballs, and is one of the most important absorbing aerosol species in the atmosphere.

accumulation mode: (0.1 - 1 µm diameter)           particle mode: (> 1 µm diameter)

PM10 is < 10mm particulate matter less than 10 microns aerodynamic diameter

Average lifetime is the amount of time until the gas is removed from the atmosphere.