Abstract. Chromophores represent an important portion of light-absorbing
species, i.e., brown carbon. Yet knowledge of what and how chromophores
contribute to aerosol light absorption is still sparse. To address this
problem, we examined soluble independent chromophores in a set of year-round
aerosol samples from Bangkok. The water-soluble fluorescent chromophores
identified via excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy and follow-up
parallel factor analysis could be mainly assigned as humic-like substances
and protein-like substances, which differed in their EEM pattern from that
of the methanol-soluble fraction. The emission wavelength of fluorescent
chromophores in environmental samples tended to increase compared with that
of the primary combustion emission, which could be attributed to secondary
formation or the aging process. Fluorescent indices inferred that these
light-absorbing chromophores were not significantly humified and comprised a
mixture of organic matter of terrestrial and microbial origin, which
exhibited a different characteristic from primary biomass burning and coal-combustion results. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that
larger fluorescent chromophores that were oxygen-rich and highly aromatic
with high molecular weights were the key contributors of light absorption,
preferably at longer emission wavelengths
(λmax > 500 nm). Positive matrix factorization analysis further suggested that up to
50 % of these responsible chromophores originated from biomass burning
emissions.