Sulfate Lens Enhances Climate Warming Properities of Atmospheric Soot

Climate models will need to account for how different types of chemicals interact in the atmosphere. Particulate pollution thought to cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, for example, instead enhances warming when combined with airborne soot.

Ship Smoke Harms Coastal Air Quality

Ships at sea spew sulfates into the air when they burn cheap fuel called bunker oil. Instruments at the end of UC San Diego's Scripps pier measured surprising amounts of sulfates blowing to shore, even from vessels sailing to distant ports.

Smoke Smudges a Megacity's Air

Mexico City sits in the bowl of an extinct volcano, often shrouded in haze. Atmospheric chemists took a forensic approach to identify some surprising sources of these aerosols.