After what has seemed like an eternity (or more than one post-doc post, which is essentially the same thing), I’ve got a new paper published. To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I’m going to write about it. The paper is published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and is available open access here. The study investigated how aerosol particles can alter atmospheric chemistry duri ...[Read More]
My first day at EGU 2014 in Vienna was principally spent listening to various speakers describe the life and death of tiny particles in the atmosphere, known as aerosols. These aerosol particles come from a variety of sources – one of the major sources is through burning of fossil fuels, which produces a cocktail of pollutants that form these particles. They can also arise from natural sourc ...[Read More]
The recent air pollution episode in the UK brought a previously obscure air quality metric into the public consciousness, with the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) appearing in weather forecasts and the media. The index describes the severity of pollution in different areas using a ten-point scale, with a score of ten being the worst score. The question is what is the index based on? The scale itsel ...[Read More]
Air pollution over the UK has been high on the agenda today with the media covering the widespread build up of aerosol pollution since the end of last week. This has led to health concerns, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and people with pre-existing heart and lung conditions. This follows the recent event in mid-March, which I covered here and saw Paris take measu ...[Read More]
After the UK’s wettest winter since 1910, spring has sprung with several warm and clear days in March so far. High pressure has been the dominant meteorological situation, which has seen clear skies during the day and cold nights, with fog settling overnight and continuing into the morning. While the high pressure and much reduced rainfall has brought much needed respite to those affected by ...[Read More]
Smoke from a number of agricultural fires is currently blanketing Thailand and Cambodia. This is shown below in the satellite image from the MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite. The red dots are classed as ‘thermal anomalies’ by the satellite instrument and are usually indicative of fires burning in these locations. The majority of the fires are occurring in grass and cropland area ...[Read More]
While preparing my poster for the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting, I downloaded some data on fire activity in South America for background on why we are interested in biomass burning in the region. I wanted to quickly check I had the data in the correct format, so I just plotted the coordinates of the fire counts without an outline of South America. I was surprised to see that the fire locations for Aug ...[Read More]
Probably the most obvious manifestation of air pollution comes when looking out of the window and scanning the horizon – does the landscape go on for miles or is the view reduced? The build-up of air pollution can often dramatically reduce visibility via a shroud of haze. On a recent trip to the Turkish Mediterranean coast near Antalya, the impact of air pollution on visibility was abundantl ...[Read More]
Air pollution has been a major issue in our atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, with the smoke emanating from the many factories leading to smog settling over our cities and countryside. The author Johanna Schonpenhauer remarked in 1830 that Manchester was: Dark and smoky from the coal vapours, it resembles a huge forge or workshop. As industrialisation and motor vehicles spread across the ...[Read More]
Ever wondered how many aerosol particles are emitted by microwaving popcorn? Or how polluted a football match is? I’m going to assume your answer is no but it turns out that science has the answer anyway! Outdoor air pollution is a significant concern but air pollution indoors and in other enclosed spaces is of comparable importance. A US study estimated that around half of our exposure to a ...[Read More]