In 2006, a team of NCAR researchers convened in Mexico City for MIRAGE, a study of the chemical and physical transformation of air pollution in urban areas and its impact on air quality, ecosystems, and climate. Another MIRAGE field campaign kicks off this month, this time in Shanghai, China's largest city.

In a breakthrough that will help scientists unlock mysteries of the Sun and its impacts on Earth, an international team of scientists from NCAR and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research has created the first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots.