Investigadores descubren cómo el carbono negro evoluciona de partículas hidrofóbicas a sitios de nucleación de nubes, removiendo eventualmente las partículas que absorben calor del cielo.
air pollution
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Air Pollution Was Reduced During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A decrease in emissions of ozone precursor gases during the COVID-19 economic downturn likely explains the unusual reduction in ozone concentrations observed during the spring and summer of 2020.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Pollution for All
When we talk about natural processes—especially atmospheric—nothing is too small to be irrelevant. Recently, researchers in Brazil and the United States found that nanoparticles of pollution play an outsize role in cloud formation and disruption, altering rain cycles even in pristine forest areas.
The study, published in Science Advances, showed that human-made aerosols smaller than 10 nanometers, previously thought to be too tiny to act as cloud condensation nuclei or have any influence on climate processes, can become climatically active as they swell on their way to the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere.
Posted inNews
Iodine-Laden Desert Dust Is Eating at Ozone Pollution
In a happy accident, scientists found a potential solution to an atmospheric chemistry mystery. Their findings could be a missing piece in the iodine cycle and in atmospheric models.
Posted inNews
Pollination Plummeted 31% in Polluted Fields
Air pollution levels below “safe” limits (and lower than those commonly found in cities) led to a significant decrease in pollination by 10 common insects.
Posted inNews
Exposure to Low Levels of Air Pollution Increases COVID-19 Risk
Although causality has yet to be established, an Italian case study found that an increase in annual average exposure to PM2.5 was associated with a jump in the rate of COVID-19.
Posted inNews
Cleaner Pandemic Air Led to Reduced Lightning Strikes Worldwide
As people stayed home during the COVID-19 lockdowns, air quality improved. But the improvement was accompanied by an unusual meteorological side effect: a decrease in lightning.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Health Impacts of Air Pollution from Australian Megafires
Models suggest that thousands of Australians experienced dangerous levels of air pollution for several months, leading to more than a hundred deaths.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Termite Fumigation in California Is Fueling the Rise of a Rare Greenhouse Gas
The insecticide sulfuryl fluoride isn’t included in federal or state emissions reduction goals.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Tracking Pollution in the Breeze, with Trees
New research outlines how pine needles offer a simple, low-cost means of assessing particulate matter pollution.