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8 June 2020
Gold mining with mercury poses health threats for miles downstream
A new study in the Peruvian Amazon shows that the assumption that distance lowers risk from mercury contamination doesn’t hold up.
21 April 2020
South Asia faces increased double-threat of extreme heat, extreme pollution
Extreme heat occurrences worldwide have increased in recent decades, and at the same time, many cities are facing severe air pollution problems, featuring episodes of high particulate matter pollution. This study provides an integrated assessment of human exposure to rare days of both extreme heat and high PM levels.
Continued carbon dioxide emissions will impair human cognition
Rising CO2 causes more than a climate crisis—it may directly harm our ability to think.
15 January 2020
Crowdsourcing pollution data could benefit public health
Low-cost sensors provide localized air quality data By Jerimiah Oetting Wildfire smoke regularly threatens air quality over vast regions of places like California. But a new study finds a network of low-cost sensors placed in private homes could paint a more detailed picture of localized pollution, especially in areas where data on air quality is limited. “[The low cost sensors are] unlikely to replace our reliable regulatory monitoring networks,” said …
Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Production Sites Visible from Space
Between 2007 and 2019, across much of the United States, nitrogen dioxide pollution levels dropped because of cleaner cars and power plants, the team found, confirming findings reported previously. The clean air trend in satellite data was most obvious in urban areas of California, Washington and Oregon and in the eastern half of the continental United States… However, several areas stuck out with increased emissions of nitrogen dioxide: The Permian, Bakken and Eagle Ford oil and gas basins, in Texas and New Mexico, North Dakota, and Texas, respectively.
5 November 2019
Satellite tracking shows how ships affect clouds and climate
By matching the movement of ships to the changes in clouds caused by their emissions, researchers have shown how strongly the two are connected.
3 October 2019
Shape of volcanic ash influences contamination of water sources in volcanically active regions
Contaminants from volcanic eruptions leach into water at different rates depending on the shape of the volcanic ash particles, according to new research that could enhancing scientists’ ability to predict water quality risk in volcanically active regions.
26 August 2019
Ship emissions responsible for thousands of premature deaths in China’s Pearl River Delta
Ship emissions caused more than 1,200 ozone-related and 2,500 particulate-related premature deaths in the Pearl River Delta region in 2015, according to new research in the AGU journal GeoHealth. The new study also predicts that implementing new coastal emission controls could reduce mortality due to fine particulates by 30 percent and ozone by 10 percent by 2030.
31 July 2019
Decades-old pollutants melting out of Himalayan glaciers
New research in AGU’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres finds chemicals used in pesticides that have been accumulating in glaciers and ice sheets around the world since the 1940s are being released as Himalayan glaciers melt as a result of climate change.
15 May 2019
Study: U.S. methane emissions flat since 2006 despite increased oil and gas activity
Natural gas production in the United States has increased 46 percent since 2006, but there has been no significant increase of total US methane emissions and only a modest increase from oil and gas activity, according to a new NOAA study.
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.