Desert dust intensifies summer rainfall in U.S. southwest

(Phys.org) -- Dust is more than something to be brushed off the furniture. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that dust kicked up from the desert floor acts like a heat pump in the atmosphere, fueling ...

NASA study traces decade of ammonia air pollution in Africa

A new NASA-led study is the first to document changing atmospheric ammonia (NH3) concentrations in Africa over an extended period. Ammonia is an air pollutant which can lead to heart and lung related illness. When present ...

Playing 'tag' with pollution lets scientists see who's 'it'

Using a climate model that can tag sources of soot from different global regions and can track where it lands on the Tibetan Plateau, researchers have determined which areas around the plateau contribute the most soot—and ...

High-latitude volcanic eruptions have global impact

Volcanic eruptions emit sulfate aerosols via volcanic plumes, which may stay in the stratosphere for months to years, reflecting sunlight back into space, cooling the Earth's lower atmosphere or troposphere over a long time ...

Pollen influences optical properties of the atmosphere

Pollen reflects more sunlight than previously known, and makes up to one third of the total amount of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Aerosol particles influence optical depth which provides a measure of the opacity ...

Oil industry and household stoves speed Arctic thaw

(Phys.org) —The new study, published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics by researchers at IIASA and in Norway, Finland, and Russia, finds that gas flaring from oil extraction in the Arctic accounts for 42% ...

Wildfire aerosols remain longer in atmosphere than expected

Rising 2,225 meters into the air on an island in the Azores archipelago, Pico Mountain Observatory is an ideal place to study aerosols—particles or liquids suspended in gases—that have traveled great distances in the ...

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