Smoke flows
A new study shows what causes pollutants to last longer and travel faster in the atmosphere
ANEW STUDY has found that tiny floating particles can grow semi-solid around pollutants, allowing them to last longer and travel much farther than what previous global climate models predicted. The new way of looking at how pollutants ride through the atmosphere has quadrupled the estimate of global lung cancer risk from pollutants, which is double the allowable limit recommended by the World Health Organization. kWe developed new modeling approaches based on laboratory measurements to include shielding of toxics by organic aerosols,y says climate scientist and lead author Manish Shrivastava. These pollutants emanate from fossil fuels, forest fires and air-polluting chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The new estimates more closely match actual measurements of the pollutants from more than 300 urban and rural settings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 23, 2016