News by Subject Atmospheric Science

To arrive at Nunavut, turn left at the Dakotas and head north. You can't miss it--the vast tundra territory covers almost a million square miles of northern Canada. Relatively few people call this lake-scattered landscape home, but the region plays a crucial role in understanding global climate change.

The 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan caused a great amount of radioactive cesium to spread to nearby forests. Now, in a chapter in the latest technical document of the International Atomic Energy Agency, researchers from Japan, in collaboration with experts in Europe, explore the dynamic flow of these radionuclides in forest ecosystems. Their compilation of data and analyses on radiocesium dynamics will help us develop better forest remediation strategies.

Hokkaido University scientists show that under laboratory conditions, ultraviolet light reacts with nitrophenol to produce smog-generating nitrous acid.

Professor Kevin Gurney of Northern Arizona University's School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and colleagues have compared the self-reported emissions inventories published by 48 major US cities to estimates from a state-of-the-art emissions information system. As described in Nature Communications, Gurney and his research collaborators found large differences and a systematic under-reporting of urban emissions by cities.

There are two main elements to observe when assessing sea level rise. One is the loss of the ice on land and the other is that the sea will expand as it gets warmer. Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen have constructed a new method of quantifying just how fast the sea will react to warming. Former predictions of sea level have been too conservative, so the sea will likely rise more and faster than previously believed.

Rice University engineers model the hypothetical threats from toxins released when aboveground storage tanks fail during a storm. Using data from hurricanes Ike and Harvey and from the Houston Ship Channel, they illustrate potential atmospheric pollutants during and after a disaster.