Air Quality Articles
COPD and the Air We Breathe: Understanding a Major American Lung Disease
COPD is a chronic lung disease shaped by smoking, occupational exposures, and air pollution, with treatment increasingly focused on controlling symptoms, preventing exacerbations, and targeting different forms of the disease.
Between Sea and Sky: How Seabirds Influence Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Quality
Seabirds spend much of their lives moving between two very different environments. They feed on fish, squid, krill, and other organisms at sea, then return to islands, cliffs, beaches, and coastal nesting colonies. In doing so, they transport nutrients that originated...
Hooves, Fire, and the Atmosphere: How Wildebeest and Other Grazers Influence Air Quality
Wildebeest and other grazers can influence air quality by reducing wildfire fuel, reshaping vegetation and carbon storage, redistributing nutrients, disturbing soil, and contributing natural methane emissions.
The Whale Pump: How Whales Help Move Carbon Through the Ocean
Whales contribute to ocean carbon cycling by recycling iron and other nutrients that support phytoplankton growth, helping move carbon from surface waters into deeper marine ecosystems.
Giants That Reshape the Air: How Elephants Influence Forests, Carbon, and the Atmosphere
Elephants influence the atmosphere indirectly by reshaping forests and savannas, altering carbon storage, seed dispersal, vegetation structure, nutrient cycling, and the fuels that determine how landscapes burn.
Beavers and the Atmosphere: How Dam Building Can Influence Air Quality and Carbon
Beavers influence air quality indirectly by creating wetlands that store carbon, retain moisture, alter methane emissions, and can reduce wildfire severity and the smoke produced by burning landscapes.
When the Bog Burns: How Drying Peatlands Release Centuries of Stored Carbon
Drying peatlands can transform long-term carbon stores into major sources of carbon dioxide and smoke, while fire can release centuries of accumulated carbon in a matter of days or weeks.
A Timeline of New York City Air Quality After 9/11
New York City’s air quality after 9/11 evolved from an intense dust and smoke emergency into months of cleanup-related exposure and years of monitoring, indoor remediation, and health investigation.
Opening the Archive: New York City Releases Long-Withheld 9/11 Air Quality Records
New York City’s release of long-withheld 9/11 air-quality records gives the public new access to environmental data, internal communications, and unanswered questions about how officials managed and disclosed post-attack health risks.
Air Quality Headlines
School-Based Air Quality Monitoring Program
Pima County | 18 September 2026 | Pima County and the University of Arizona are deploying low-cost air sensors at local schools to improve neighborhood-level pollution data, study environmental disparities, and engage students in community air quality science.
Air Pollution Spiked After The Trump Administration Stopped Embassy Monitoring
NPR | 18 September 2026 | Public air quality monitoring helped change perceptions of severe smog in China by giving residents clearer information about pollution levels and the potential health risks of the air they were breathing.
NASA’s TEMPO Satellite Enables Better Monitoring Of Bad Air Days
Knowable Magazine | 17 September 2026 | NASA’s TEMPO satellite is providing near-real-time, hourly observations of air pollution across North America, helping scientists track how wildfire smoke and other pollutants form, move, and change throughout the day.
Air Pollution Spiked After The Trump Administration Stopped Embassy Monitoring
WTJX Newsfeed | 17 September 2026 | A new study found air pollution increased across 46 cities after the U.S. suspended embassy air quality reporting in 2025, highlighting the role publicly available monitoring data can play in supporting pollution accountability.
Modelling Air Pollution Impacts On Infectious Disease
Nature | 16 September 2026 | Air pollution increases the risk of invasive pneumococcal disease and bacterial lineage changes the timing of that risk, making pathogen genomic diversity an effect modifier.
Some People Rely On Air Quality Forecasts For Their Health, But It’s Hard To Measure
WHYY | 16 September 2026 | A Philadelphia woman’s life-threatening asthma crisis during the 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke event highlights the serious health risks that prolonged wildfire pollution can pose to people with respiratory conditions.
Edge AI Air Quality Monitor & Pollution Anomaly Detector
Hackster.io | 15 September 2026 | PuneAir is an offline Arduino-based air quality monitor that uses gas and optical dust sensors to classify local conditions as good, moderate, or hazardous and communicates the results through LED patterns and audible alerts.
America’s Air Monitors Are Disappearing. So Is Your Power To Expose Polluters.
Grist | 15 September 2026 | As the U.S. public air monitoring network faces declining funding and aging equipment, communities are increasingly turning to low-cost sensors to track pollution from sources including wildfires, industry, data centers, and ozone.
Louisiana, Ohio, And Kentucky Pass Industry-Backed Bills Blocking Community Air Data In Enforcement
The Cool Down | 14 September 2026 | New laws in Louisiana, Ohio, and Kentucky restrict regulators from using data collected by inexpensive community air sensors for enforcement, requiring readings from costly EPA-approved monitoring equipment instead.
This 16-Year-Old US Teen Is Using AI To Map The Dirty Air Students Breathe
India Today | 14 September 2026 | A San Jose student is combining AI mapping and low-cost sensors to identify air pollution patterns around schools and help communities advocate for stronger air quality monitoring and protections.
More…
Air Quality Events
Please select a month:
About AirQuality.News
AirQuality.News is the trusted source and premier provider of air quality news, breaking headlines, events, and deep dives into the most pressing issues that impact both indoor and outdoor air quality.
From cutting-edge technology to evolving policies, we break down complex topics so our readers can stay informed on the latest developments impacting our health and environment. Our original reporting offers insights and expert analysis, making AirQuality.News the go-to platform for everyone.
At AirQuality.News, we’re not just reporting the facts — we’re shaping the conversation.
Join a community that shares your concern for the air we breathe by subscribing to our newsletter