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Both emissions and ageing altered brown carbon aerosols in the East Asian outflow
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  • Published: 06 January 2026

Both emissions and ageing altered brown carbon aerosols in the East Asian outflow

  • Chunmao Zhu1,
  • Takuma Miyakawa1,
  • Fumikazu Taketani1,
  • Bhagawati Kunwar2 nAff3,
  • Dhananjay Kumar2,4,
  • Kimitaka Kawamura2 &
  • …
  • Yugo Kanaya1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

  • 655 Accesses

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Climate sciences
  • Environmental sciences

Abstract

Brown carbon aerosols (BrC) significantly contribute to regional climate warming in East Asia. However, their sources and atmospheric transformation remain poorly constrained due to limited observations. In this study, we clarified the seasonal dynamics of BrC and quantified the sources of relating carbonaceous components, at the gateway of the East Asian air outflow for seasonal variations. Our findings reveal that fossil fuel combustion dominates the sources of BrC containing carbonaceous components in winter, while biomass burning and local biogenic sources become more prominent in spring and summer, respectively. We provide benchmark optical properties of BrC for climate model simulations, demonstrating that the absorption coefficient and mass absorption cross-section of water-soluble fraction from land-originated air masses (0.47 Mm−1 and 0.53 m2 gC−1, respectively) are more than twice those of sea-originated air masses (0.11 Mm−1 and 0.21 m2 gC−1, respectively). Additionally, we show that BrC undergoes photochemical degradation during transport with a half-life of approximately 1.2 days. A significant reduction in BrC levels during the COVID-19 lockdown period highlights the potential of stringent emission controls to mitigate air pollution and its associated climate impacts. By shedding light on the seasonal dynamics, diverse sources, and atmospheric ageing of BrC, the study provides valuable insights for emission reduction strategies and improving BrC representation in climate models.

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Data availability

The observational optical and chemical data, input for PMF analyses and isotopic analyzed results are available at [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13831520] (https:/doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13831520). The meteorological data for FLEXPART input are available at https://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/d083002/.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Hidemitsu Chino for the assistance in field observation, Institute of Accelerator Analysis Ltd., Japan for the isotopic analyses and Murata Keisokuki Service Co., Ltd., Japan for a part of optical and chemical analyses.

Funding

This study was partly supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (19K20447 and 23K11401), the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS) Project (JPMXD1300000000), ArCS II (JPMXD1420318865) and ArCS III (JPMXD1720251001), the Steel Foundation for Environmental Protection Technology (C-40-10), and the Specified Critical Technologies Research Promotion Grants from the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan.

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  1. Bhagawati Kunwar

    Present address: Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 4648601, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Research Institute for Global Change, Yokohama, 2360001, Japan

    Chunmao Zhu, Takuma Miyakawa, Fumikazu Taketani & Yugo Kanaya

  2. Chubu Institute for Advanced Studies, Chubu University, Kasugai, 4878501, Japan

    Bhagawati Kunwar, Dhananjay Kumar & Kimitaka Kawamura

  3. Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi 110001, India

    Dhananjay Kumar

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Contributions

C.Z. conceived the idea. C.Z., T.M., F.T. and Y.K. conducted the observations. C.Z., T.M., B.K., D.K.D. and K.K. conducted chemical, optical and isotopic analyses. C.Z. and T.M. analyzed the data. C.Z. wrote the original manuscript along with discussions with T.M. The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chunmao Zhu.

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Zhu, C., Miyakawa, T., Taketani, F. et al. Both emissions and ageing altered brown carbon aerosols in the East Asian outflow. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35012-8

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  • Received: 03 October 2025

  • Accepted: 01 January 2026

  • Published: 06 January 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35012-8

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Keywords

  • Brown carbon aerosols
  • Light-absorption properties
  • Molecular tracers
  • Radiocarbon
  • Fossil fuel combustion
  • Biomass burning
  • East Asian outflow
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