Wildfires are making the US smoggy again, reversing progress on cleaner air, study finds
Wildfire smoke erased 5.3 years of ozone-control progress and exposed 43 million Americans to unhealthy air, researchers said.
- A new NASA-supported study released Thursday found that wildfires have reversed a decade of progress in reducing ground-level ozone across the contiguous United States, creating unhealthy air far from active flames.
- Strict federal regulations on cars and power plants reduced smog by 11% between 2003 and 2015, but intensifying wildfires have since driven a 4% increase in national average ozone levels, according to the research.
- University of Iowa atmospheric scientist Weizhi Deng noted that wildfire smoke exposed an additional 43 million people to unhealthy smog levels between 2022 and 2024, offsetting nearly four years of ozone-control gains.
- Higher daily ozone concentrations can increase asthma attacks, hospital admissions, and mortality, said University of Washington public health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi, noting the pollutant remains a significant health risk.
- Strengthening forecasting systems like NASA's FireAQ provides early warnings as wildfire seasons grow longer and more severe, which researchers suggest is essential for protecting public health alongside maintaining monitoring networks.
43 Articles
43 Articles
Wildfires are making the country smoggy again, reversing progress on cleaner air: Study
For more than a decade, the United States dramatically reduced its national smog levels, but since 2015 smoke from increasingly larger wildfires is reversing that clean-up trend and making the air dirtier and deadlier.
Los Angeles Times
Independent EspañolFor more than a decade, the United States drastically reduced its national levels of smog, but since 2015, the smoke produced by growing forest fires has begun to reverse that cleaning trend and has made the air more dirty and lethal, according to a new study.
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Wildfire Smoke Is Reversing U.S. Smog Gains And Increasing Ozone-Linked Deaths, Study Finds
A new Science study found that wildfire smoke has driven a 4% rise in average U.S. ground-level ozone since 2015, offsetting years of cleaner-air progress ... The post Wildfire Smoke Is Reversing U.S. Smog Gains And Increasing Ozone-Linked Deaths, Study Finds first appeared on [your]NEWS.
Wildfires are making the U.S. smoggy again, reversing progress on cleaner air, study finds
For more than a decade, the United States dramatically reduced its national smog levels, but since 2015 smoke from increasingly larger wildfires is reversing that clean-up trend and making the air dirtier and deadlier, a new study finds.
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