News by Subject Atmospheric Science

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die too soon every year because of exposure to air pollution caused by our daily use of chemical products and fuels, including paints, pesticides, charcoal and gases from vehicle tailpipes, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder-led study.

To meet an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, California's policymakers are relying in part on forests and shrublands to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but researchers at the University of California, Irvine warn that future climate change may limit the ecosystem's ability to perform this service.

In a recently published paper, a research team, led by University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Professor Emeritus Joseph M. Prospero, chronicles the history of African dust transport, including three independent "first" discoveries of African dust in the Caribbean Basin in the 1950s and 1960s.

Little is known about the weather at night on Venus as the absence of sunlight makes imaging difficult. Now, researchers have devised a way to use infrared sensors on board the Venus orbiter Akatsuki to reveal the first details of the nighttime weather of our nearest neighbor. Their analytical methods could be used to study other planets including Mars and gas giants as well.

Scientists show for the first time that 'stealth' coronal mass ejections, a type of solar storm, can be detected early on the Sun's surface. This could help put measures in place that limit damage to technology and energy grids on Earth from the electromagnetic radiation. The new techniques can be implemented immediately, and their power to forecast risky events will become even greater once the new Solar Orbiter and similar spacecraft become fully operational.

For the first time, researchers have measured the flux variations of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) in typical glacial basins in High Mountain Asia. They have discovered that rapid cryospheric retreat has made the basins strong sources of carbon with positive methane and CO2 fluxes. While this is partially offset by proglacial river runoff, the findings suggest that these variations should be considered in regional CH4 and CO2 climate change budgets.