Air quality, as a phenomenon, refers to the physicochemical state of the atmosphere with respect to the presence, concentration, and reactivity of gaseous and particulate constituents, including criteria pollutants (e.g., ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter) and numerous hazardous air pollutants. It emerges from dynamic interactions among emission sources, atmospheric transport, dispersion, chemical transformation, and removal processes such as deposition and scavenging. Quantification of air quality relies on continuous or episodic monitoring, expressed through pollutant concentrations and composite indices, and is central to studying atmospheric chemistry, exposure assessment, and the impacts of atmospheric composition on biological, ecological, and material systems.
Wildfires burning across Canada and the Western United States are spewing smoke over millions of Americans—the latest examples of ashy haze becoming a regular experience, with health impacts far greater than scientists previously ...
Environment
Sep 18, 2025
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The extraction, transportation and burning of planet-heating fossil fuels have a huge impact on people's health that starts before they are born and lasts until they die, a report warned Tuesday.
Environment
Sep 16, 2025
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Canada's government and health science sectors should commit to researching the health effects of oil sands tailings, as previous research suggests that air, water, and land contaminations negatively affect local people's ...
Environment
Sep 15, 2025
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Climate change is driving more frequent and more intense wildfires around the world, including in the United States. These huge blazes cause a range of problems that affect health, the environment, property and the economy. ...
Research by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) shows that streets which are narrower than 20 meters experience irregular and often dangerously high spikes in particulate matter (PM).
Environment
Sep 10, 2025
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A large-scale study across schools in Rwanda and Kenya has found dangerously high levels of air pollution from biomass-fueled cooking, raising serious health concerns for millions of children and staff across Sub-Saharan ...
Environment
Sep 9, 2025
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Scientists at the University of Manchester are calling for the creation of a global network of air monitoring stations to track the movement of airborne plastic pollution, which may be traveling further and faster around ...
Environment
Sep 5, 2025
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Wildfires are releasing a "witches' brew" of pollutants that can end up wrecking air quality a continent away from the blaze, the UN's weather and climate agency said Friday.
Environment
Sep 5, 2025
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U.S. cities are facing a growing threat that goes beyond hot weather or hazy air. New research from the University of Oklahoma reveals that "compound events"—periods when heat wave conditions coincide with high air pollution ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 2, 2025
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Air pollution from secondary organic aerosols (SOA) has now become a greater problem in Chinese cities since 2013 because regulations have successfully reduced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted directly from, for example, ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 2, 2025
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