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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-4423</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Photochemical ageing drives the browning of urban outflows through secondary brown carbon production</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Velazquez-Garcia</surname>
<given-names>Alejandra</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0259-539X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yu</surname>
<given-names>Chenjie</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9831-4558</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tinorua</surname>
<given-names>Sarah</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5411-6855</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bouzidi</surname>
<given-names>Hichem</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Aruffo</surname>
<given-names>Eleonora</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9164-7293</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Di Carlo</surname>
<given-names>Piero</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4971-4509</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>DeCarlo</surname>
<given-names>Peter</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6385-7149</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>A. Nault</surname>
<given-names>Benjamin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9464-4787</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bourrianne</surname>
<given-names>Thierry</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tu</surname>
<given-names>Kevin</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff10">
<sup>10</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Pangui</surname>
<given-names>Edouard</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>L. Pereira</surname>
<given-names>Diana</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff11">
<sup>11</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cazaunau</surname>
<given-names>Mathieu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Di Antonio</surname>
<given-names>Ludovico</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0528-7082</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff12">
<sup>12</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Siour</surname>
<given-names>Guillaume</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5940-4902</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Beekmann</surname>
<given-names>Matthias</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bauville</surname>
<given-names>Astrid</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff13">
<sup>13</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cantrell</surname>
<given-names>Christopher</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3844-1560</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Formenti</surname>
<given-names>Paola</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0372-1351</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Michoud</surname>
<given-names>Vincent</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Denjean</surname>
<given-names>Cyrielle</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Université Paris Cité et Univ Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, LISA, F-75013, Paris, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>University &quot;G. d’Annunzio&quot; of Chieti-Pescara, Department of Science, Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Chieti, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>University &quot;G. d’Annunzio&quot; of Chieti-Pescara, Department of Advanced Technologies in Medicine &amp; Dentistry (DTM&amp;O), Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Chieti, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Institute for Planetary Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Center for Aerosol and Cloud Chemistry, Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, United States</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff8">
<label>8</label>
<addr-line>Université Paris Est Creteil et Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LISA, F-94100, Creteil, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff9">
<label>9</label>
<addr-line>now at: Institute of Applied Geosciences, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff10">
<label>10</label>
<addr-line>now at: Safran Aircraft Engines/Akkodis, 77550 Moissy-Cramayel, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff11">
<label>11</label>
<addr-line>now at: Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff12">
<label>12</label>
<addr-line>now at: LATMOS/IPSL, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS, 75252 Paris, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff13">
<label>13</label>
<addr-line>now at: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN, CNRS), BioArch, Paris, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>28</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>28</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Alejandra Velazquez-Garcia et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4423/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4423/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4423/egusphere-2026-4423.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4423/egusphere-2026-4423.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Brown carbon (BrC) absorbs solar radiation, thereby partially offsetting the cooling effect of aerosols on the climate. However, its contribution to climate forcing remains poorly constrained and is currently not explicitly included in the overall radiative forcing estimates of the IPCC. In this work, we quantify the contributions of BrC to light absorption in urban outflows from Paris using aircraft observations. We observe a progressive &quot;browning&quot; of the plume over 6 hours of transport time, characterised by a significant increase in the relative contribution of BrC to aerosol light absorption. This optical shift is strongly correlated with photochemical ageing as evidenced by the increase in the organic aerosols-to-BC mass ratio and the simultaneous depletion of aromatic volatile organic precursors. The corresponding rise in the Absorption Angstr&amp;ouml;m Exponent from 1.1 to 2.6 provides further evidence that secondary organic aerosol formation is the primary driver of enhanced light absorption at 450 nm in the aged plume. Our observations indicate that BrC is photochemically produced during transport at a rate of ~0.25 h&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; over 6 hours of atmospheric processing under the conditions examined in this study. For these cases, the findings suggest that urban outflows are not merely diluted during transport but undergo significant chemical transformations that alter their radiative impact. Accounting for these time-dependent optical changes provides a way to refine how climate models simulate radiative impacts of large metropolitan areas to climate change.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="28"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Agence Nationale de la Recherche</funding-source>
<award-id>ANR-17-MPGA-0002</award-id>
<award-id>ANR-20-CE01-0010</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Institut national des sciences de l&apos;Univers</funding-source>
<award-id>AO-MILOURDS-INSU-2017</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
</back>
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