Fires that burn through the wildland-urban interface are becoming more frequent worldwide, and the trend is likely to continue.

Scientists from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) have begun a four-country deployment focused on obtaining airborne observations of air quality over some of Asia’s largest cities.

The forests and grasslands of northern tropical Africa take in about as much carbon dioxide in the wet season as they release in the dry season, according to a new study based on observations from aircraft. The findings contradict earlier research that relied on satellite data and found that these ecosystems may be adding significantly more carbon to the atmosphere than they absorb over the course of a year.

Emissions associated with mining operations in Africa’s Copperbelt can be quantified from space, according to new research. Mining for copper and cobalt in Africa has rapidly increased, the latter in response to growing global demand for electric vehicles, laptops, smartphones, and other devices that rely on lithium-ion batteries, the vast majority of which contain cobalt.

Wildfire smoke in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer shielding Earth from the Sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation