atmospheric sciences

A study led by ISGlobal shows that European regions with higher levels of poverty and lower use of renewable energy face a greater risk of mortality from air pollution. The research, published in Nature Medicine, analysed 88.8 million deaths that occurred between 2003 and 2019 across 653 regions in 31 European countries, covering a population of 521 million people. Areas with higher GDP per capita, lower poverty rates, and longer life expectancy—mainly in northern and western Europe—showed lower mortality risks, while other regions, particularly in southern Europe, experienced up to double the associated risk.

A study published in Nature estimates that atmospheric microplastic emissions have been overestimated. The authors compared measurements of atmospheric microplastics from 76 studies conducted between 2014 and 2024 at various locations around the world with model simulations. According to the simulations, atmospheric microplastic concentrations were between 100 and 10,000 times lower than previously estimated.

Over the last seven decades, the frequency of planetary wave resonance phenomena has tripled, according to a study published in PNAS. The authors argue that the risk of extreme weather events related to this phenomenon during the northern hemisphere summer could be higher than current model estimates.

Until now, one hypothesis suggested that life on Earth could have arisen from lightning striking a body of water. However, a new study claims that the synthesis of molecules necessary for the emergence of life could have originated from ‘micro-lightning’ in water droplets. According to the study, published in Science Advances, the formation of organic compounds with carbon-nitrogen bonds from gas molecules could be a possible mechanism for creating the basic components of life on the early Earth.

An international team led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen has detected a new class of extremely reactive chemical compounds in tha atmpsphere, the 'trioxides'. The challenge now is to understand the role of trioxides in climate and air quality. The result is presented in Science.

Japan's IBUKI greenhouse gas observation satellites (GOSAT) have just announced the detection of a sharp annual increase in the average atmospheric methane concentration in 2021, the largest since 2011. European (ESA) and US (NASA) space agencies, as well as ground stations, have also detected spikes.