Microplastic particles, present everywhere on the planet, may complicate assessments of black carbon’s role in the melting of snow and of its contributions to Earth’s radiative balance.
pollution
Posted inNews
To Make Better Hurricane Models, Consider Air Pollution
New research uses Hurricane Harvey as a case study to demonstrate the devastating power of aerosols to supercharge tropical storms.
Posted inNews
Will Rising Temperatures Make Rice Too Toxic?
Greenhouse experiments reveal how higher temperatures act to elevate arsenic levels in rice and may help focus efforts to solve a crisis threatening food systems around the world.
Posted inNews
The Legacy of Nitrogen Pollution
Researchers track decades of nitrogen inputs and uptake across the United States, highlighting the need for policy to address the legacy effects of this essential nutrient and pollutant.
Posted inScience Updates
Critical Agents of Change at Earth’s Surface
By way of agriculture and industry, humans have major influences on the critical zone. Our past and present effects on the landscape, soil, and water will echo for a long time to come.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Exploring the Widespread Impacts of Ongoing Nitrogen Pollution
The release of reactive nitrogen into the environment is having severe and ongoing ecosystem, economic, and human health impacts. How can we reduce our nitrogen footprint?
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Citizen Science Reduces Risks from Combusting Coal-Mine Wastes
A community-based citizen science study on spontaneously combusting coal-mine waste heaps in Myanmar underpins the development of risk management plans to protect individuals and communities.
Posted inScience Updates
Earth Observations Inform Cities’ Operations and Planning
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Chicago, Ill., are using NASA Earth observations to map, monitor, and forecast water and air quality, urban heat island effects, landslide risks, and more.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Exploring the Impacts of Mining on Planetary Health
Papers are invited for a special collection presenting advances in understanding of the impacts of mining on human, ecosystem, and Earth surface environmental health.
Posted inScience Updates
Asia’s Mega Rivers: Common Source, Diverse Fates
How do humans affect the ways that Asia’s mega rivers deliver sediment and dissolved matter to farms, river deltas, and, eventually, the sea? A proposed study would construct an integrated picture.