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Air Quality D

Air Quality

Air pollution is a significant threat to human health and our environment. Instruments on NASA satellites, along with airborne and ground-based sensors, are constantly collecting data on major pollutants in our atmosphere.

Explore Air Quality with NASA

Where Does NASA Fit?

NASA instruments — on satellites, planes, and the ground — constantly collect data on air quality. NASA-funded scientists track the sources and concentrations of major pollutants and their movement through the atmosphere. They provide managers and policymakers with Earth observations that can inform decisions around air quality for economic and human benefit.
 

The basics

Air’s Ingredients

Watch to learn what air quality is and why it’s so important for NASA to study it.

Air Quality Essentials

Air is a stew of components—some natural, some introduced by human activity.

Aerosols are small particles or droplets that float in the air. They are emitted by both natural events and human activities. Some aerosols cool the climate, and others have a warming effect. Image credits, left to right: Saiho/Pixabay, olegkamenskij20120/Pixabay, USGS. Image design: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA Knows: The Ozone Hole

NASA fosters global effort and change to improve air.

Curious Universe Logo

Curious Universe Podcast: Tiny but Mighty

NASA scientists talk about what’s in the air.

2018-08-23 00:00:00

Just Another Day on Aerosol Earth

NASA satellites trace ingredients of air worldwide on one particularly representative day in the life of planet Earth.

Featured Video

Aerosols
in the Air

NASA merges satellite and ground-based observations, advanced models, and computing power to study aerosols in the atmosphere.

Air Quality News

Find stories based on NASA data, observations, and models.

Air Pollution’s Daily Pulse Over the Northeast
5 min read

The TEMPO mission helped scientists track morning nitrogen dioxide that contributed to afternoon ozone along the New York–Washington corridor in…

Jun 11, 2026
A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II
4 min read

An astronaut’s photo, taken en route to the Moon, reveals our planet and its place in space in a novel…

Jun 4, 2026
Gravity Waves From Super Typhoon Sinlaku
4 min read

Satellites observed striking upper-atmosphere phenomena generated by an intensifying tropical cyclone.

Jun 1, 2026
NASA MISSIONS HELP

How NASA Sees the Air We Breathe

NASA and NOAA, among other agencies, worked together this summer through the STAQS and AEROMMA missions to calibrate and validate NASA’s new TEMPO satellite. The satellite and missions combined aim to not only better measure air quality, and the major pollutants that impact it, but also to improve air quality, from street to stratosphere. This effort was documented during the August 2023 campaign leg, which took place over the Chicago region.

NASA’s Air Quality Missions

Show Me the Data

Shanghai at sunset, as seen from the observation deck of the Jin Mao tower. The sun has not actually dropped below the horizon yet, rather it has reached the smog line.

NASA EarthData: Air Quality

Find NASA’s data on air quality, including trainings, articles, webinars, additional related topics, and more.

The post Air Quality D appeared first on NASA Science.

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