Search results for Atmospheric Chemistry

A Complicated Future for a Methane-Cleansing Molecule

A new model shows how levels of the “atmosphere’s detergent” may rise and fall in response to climate change.

A New Study Explains How Carbon Dioxide Cools the Upper Atmosphere—and Warms Earth Below

Researchers have solved a long-standing atmospheric puzzle: how rising carbon dioxide cools the stratosphere even as it warms Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere.

A Volcano Erupted and Accidentally Started Cleaning the Atmosphere

Formaldehyde is not supposed to be in the stratosphere. The molecule survives for a few hours at most before sunlight tears it apart, so finding a cloud of it drifting 30 kilometre...

How Airborne Microplastics and Nanoplastics Contribute to Climate Change and Atmospheric Warming

Find out how airborne microplastics and nanoplastics may contribute to climate change through heat absorption, cloud interactions, and atmospheric warming from microplastics.

Want an oxygen-rich atmosphere? Stuff oxygen’s friends in the mantle.

Getting carbon and sulfur into Earth’s interior may be part of oxygen’s story.

Climate Change Is Altering a Key Greenhouse Gas in a Way Scientists Didn’t Expect

The lifetime of nitrous oxide is decreasing more quickly than expected, which is changing climate projections. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine report that climat...

Rare Volcano Cloud Destroys Methane in Atmosphere Through Powerful Chemical Reaction

A rare volcanic cloud triggered methane removal in atmosphere through unusual chemical reactions, offering new insight into how a volcano destroys methane and affects climate scien...

Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling Fast and Scientists Finally Know Why

Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere are getting hotter, but far above the planet, another dramatic change has been unfolding in the opposite direction. The upper atmosphere has be...

Numerical Simulation Unveils Reaction Mechanisms in Atmospheric Pressure Non-Equilibrium CO₂–H₂O Plasma Discharge

In the ongoing quest to transform carbon dioxide (CO₂) from an environmentally harmful greenhouse gas into valuable chemicals and fuels, scientists are increasingly turning to plas...

Study posits how carbon dioxide cools the upper atmosphere, and warms earth below

Researchers have supposedly solved a long-standing atmospheric puzzle: How rising carbon dioxide cools the stratosphere even as it warms Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere. The p...

Carbon Dioxide Cools the Stratosphere. Scientists Have Figured Out Why

There is something genuinely strange about the upper atmosphere. While Earth’s surface bakes, the stratosphere has been getting colder, shedding roughly two degrees Celsius since t...

Hazy skies: What’s in the air over Central Texas?

As summer approaches, you may have already started to notice the air feeling heavier and visibility decreasing, especially when looking into the distance. -- Nick Bannin

Scientists Finally Capture Mysterious Molecule That’s Eluded Detection for 70 Years

Researchers directly observed tetroxides for the first time, showing they exist in normal air conditions and play key roles in atmospheric chemistry, combustion, and medicine. Scie...

Faculty Spotlight: Decoding the Arctic Ocean’s Chemical Clues

Laramie Jensen’s interest in inorganic and analytical chemistry led her to the ocean. And then to the North Pole.

Methane, Exposed

One of the transformations in the climate policy world over the last few years has been the (rightful and helpful) rise in focus on methane pollution. For a long while, carbon diox...

20x Difference: Study Reveals True Source of Airborne Microplastics

Microplastics circulate globally through the atmosphere, but their sources may not be what scientists once thought. The air around us is quietly carrying an unexpected form of poll...

Demonstrating the Reverse Greenhouse Effect in the Laboratory – PART1

Laboratory experiments explore infrared emission of greenhouse gases under normal pressure, raising questions about atmospheric heat transfer and radiative assumptions.

Airborne microplastics could be making climate change worse

Tiny plastic particles drifting in Earth’s atmosphere could have a significant warming effect, a new study finds

Arctic Pond Particles Shape Clouds, Climate Change

Scientists discover the strange way CO2 cools part of Earth’s atmosphere

Scientists have finally cracked the mystery behind one of climate change’s strangest fingerprints: while Earth’s surface heats up, the upper atmosphere is rapidly cooling. Research...

A Natural Chemistry Laboratory in Protostar Shock Waves

Complex organic molecules (COMS) are at the heart of life. They're created where jets from protostars slam into the interstellar medium, environments that scientists call natural l...

‘Smog and Sunshine’: Achieving Clean Air in California

Los Angeles is famous for both sunshine and smog. Turns out the two are related. Ozone pollution is caused by the interaction of sunlight and the chemicals that come out of vehicle...

Microplastics Rain from Skies: Atmospheric Deposition Fuels Shocking Forest Pollution

Airborne microplastics trigger forest pollution via atmospheric deposition, settling on canopies and embedding in soils.

Are Satellite Megaconstellations Accidentally Geoengineering the Earth?

We’ve been reporting a lot lately on the negative impacts of satellite constellations. And unfortunately it’s time for another article about a paper pointing out the potential haza...