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.
Picture this: You're stuck in traffic on a summer afternoon, checking the weather app on your phone as dark storm clouds roll in. You might think about power outages or possible flooding, but you probably don't think about ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 30, 2025
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Global air pollution is worsening, with the United States and Canada experiencing the sharpest increases due to record-breaking, climate-supercharged wildfires that are undoing decades of progress, a study said Thursday.
Environment
Aug 28, 2025
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A new study led by researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has for the first time mapped the long-term, large-scale transport pathways of PM2.5 pollution across ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 27, 2025
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When water is below normal levels in Latin America, it's not just farmers and consumers who suffer. A new study finds that air pollution spikes, and thousands of people die prematurely as a result.
Earth Sciences
Aug 27, 2025
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Large methane leaks at oil and gas facilities across the United States not only unleash massive plumes of the potent greenhouse gas, but also carry a toxic mix of air pollutants that jeopardize the health of communities nearby, ...
Environment
Aug 26, 2025
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The high nitrogen pollution in Europe has many negative consequences: nitrogen dioxide and ammonia worsen air quality, nitrogen deposition in soils reduces biodiversity and leads to the eutrophication and acidification of ...
Environment
Aug 26, 2025
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Air pollution from oil and gas is causing 91,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of health issues across the United States annually, with Black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic groups consistently the most ...
Environment
Aug 22, 2025
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A typical morning hair-care routine can expose you to as much immediate nanoparticle pollution as standing in dense highway traffic, report Purdue University engineers.
Environment
Aug 20, 2025
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312
Heat waves are becoming more common, severe and long-lasting. These prolonged periods of hot weather are especially dangerous in already hot places like Texas. In 2023, more than 300 people in Texas died from heat, according ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 18, 2025
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37
Living in cities exposes people to all sorts of chemical pollutants. Many are harmful even at low concentrations. But it is hard to know what the risks and consequences might be.
Ecology
Aug 14, 2025
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