Articles about Air Quality

Two articles about aerosols

Changing Our Weather One Smokestack at a Time

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Pollution/

Aerosol particles from factories and power plants increase the number of droplets in clouds they pollute. In doing so, the pollutants create brighter clouds that retain their water and do not produce rain.

Every Cloud has a Filthy Lining

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/ShipTracks/

Cloud formation depends on microscopic particles (aerosols) from the surface of the Earth.  Aerosols originate chiefly from natural sources, but humans may produce a large quantity through the burning of fossil fuels. By doing so, we may be creating huge changes in our environment.

Four articles about ozone

Chemistry in the Sunlight

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/ChemistrySunlight/chemistry_sunlight.html

Chemistry in the Sunlight explains basic aspects of ozone formation at ground level and provides a sample set of chemical reactions involved.

(About ozone)  Highways of a Global Traveler: Tracking Tropospheric Ozone

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/GlobalTraveler/

Atmospheric scientists using satellites have discovered that ozone and its precursor chemicals travel farther than previously believed.

 

The Ozone We Breathe

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/OzoneWeBreathe/

Ozone affects human and plant health in important and sometimes dramatic ways.

Watching the Ozone Weather

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/OzoneWx/

Standards and regulations for the ozone we breathe (in revised draft)