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Air Topics | US EPA
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Learn more about air pollution, climate change, air research, and what you can do. There are numerous air related challenges facing the United States today. Including but not limited to meeting health-based standards for common air pollutants, limiting climate change, reducing risks from toxic air pollutants, and indoor air quality.

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Outdoor Air and Health

Most times air quality is excellent in New York State. However, at certain times air pollution can still affect millions of people in New York and nationwide. Outdoor air pollution has been linked to health problems like heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight. 
Sometimes you can see air pollution, like smoke from a fire, a plume from a smokestack, or exhaust from a vehicle. You may notice a smell associated with certain air pollutants. Other times, you may first learn about unhealthy air quality from news or weather broadcasts. Like the weather, air pollution levels can change from day to day or within the same day.

When Outdoor Air is Unhealthy

Spend more time indoors. This is especially important for at-risk groups (“sensitive groups”), like children and teenagers, older adults, people with respiratory or heart problems, pregnant people, and those who exercise or work outdoors.
An Unequal Air Pollution Burden at School
They show an average of three years (2017-2019) of NO2 concentration data derived from information about the location of roads, power plants, and other NO2 sources, as well as observations collected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) sensor on NASA’s Aura satellite. NO2 is a highly reactive gas formed by combustion that puts stress on the human respiratory system. The gas comes mainly from fossil fuel combustion for transportation and industrial activity.
“Averaged nationally, we saw roughly a two parts per billion (ppb) difference in NO2 between Hispanic and white students—9.9 ppb for Hispanic students compared to 7.7 parts per billion for white students,” Cheeseman said. On average, annual concentrations were 9.7 ppb for Asian students and 9.2 ppb for Black and African American students. “But in certain cities and regions, that difference was stark. If you look at parts of New York City or Los Angeles, you start to see disparities that are nine or 10 times larger than that.” The national standard—the maximum amount allowed by the Clean Air Act—for NO2 is 53 ppb averaged over one year.

2017 - 2019

Much of the difference relates to where different racial and ethnic groups tend to live. Hispanic, Asian, and Black and African American students are often located in dense urban areas that are frequently exposed to large amounts of vehicle traffic, factories, and other sources of nitrogen dioxide. White students tend to live in rural or suburban areas with less air pollution.
This urban-rural divide is particularly pronounced in the Midwest and Northeast. “We also saw clear disparities within individual cities,” Cheeseman said. “In some cities, like Jacksonville, San Francisco, and New York City, students of color are clustered in neighborhoods with higher levels of pollution than their white peers living within the same city.”
Though historically marginalized groups—especially communities with high rates of poverty—experienced the highest concentrations of NO2 overall, there were exceptions. Many Indigenous students attend school in rural areas with few pollution sources and low concentrations of NO2. Likewise, significant numbers of Black and African American students attend school in rural communities in the Southeast with low concentrations of air pollution.
Permits, Licenses, and Registrations - NYSDEC
DEC protects the land, water, and air resources in New York. Whether it is addressing climate change effects, promoting responsible waste management, monitoring air quality, overseeing contaminated site clean-ups, or oil and gas mining monitoring, DEC is there to safeguard the environment; you can too by reporting environmental violations and problems. 

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No Breathing Easy for City Dwellers: Particulates
PM2.5 is the leading cause of death among air pollutants, contributing to cardiovascular and respiratory disease and millions of premature deaths worldwide each year.
In a new study covering urban settlements worldwide, researchers found that PM2.5 concentrations and associated mortality declined in some areas due to reductions in precursor pollutants (such as oxides of sulfur and nitrogen) after the passage of clean air laws. However, the global average mortality rate attributable to PM2.5 remained relatively stable from 2000 to 2019. 
“That’s the global average,” said Susan C. Anenberg, an associate professor of global health at the George Washington University, “and that really masks very different dynamics happening depending on where you are in the world.”
The study by Anenberg and colleagues is one of a pair of NASA-funded studies, published in The Lancet Planetary Health in January 2022, that provide estimates of the burden of disease from air pollution in more than 13,000 urban areas around the world. The first study focused on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is a precursor to PM2.5. In both studies, the teams combined two decades of satellite observations with health data from the Global Burden of Disease study, a comprehensive study on health, risk factors, disease, and death in 204 countries since 1990.
The maps above show the changes in PM2.5 concentrations and mortality for urban areas around the world between 2000 and 2019. The first map shows absolute change in PM2.5 concentrations weighted by population. The second map shows the percentage change in PM2.5-attributable mortality rates per 100,000 population. Cities in Southeast Asia saw some of the largest annual average increases in both metrics.
The map synthesizes measurements of aerosol optical depth acquired by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS)—satellite instruments flying since the late 1990s.

The graph above shows the global and regional urban averages of PM2.5-attributable mortality rates in different regions between 2000 and 2019. The dashed line shows the relatively steady global average rate.
Skiing and Snowshoeing - NYSDEC
DEC protects the land, water, and air resources in New York. Whether it is addressing climate change effects, promoting responsible waste management, monitoring air quality, overseeing contaminated site clean-ups, or oil and gas mining monitoring, DEC is there to safeguard the environment; you can too by reporting environmental violations and problems. 

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The Environmental Notice Bulletin lets you know about projects or regulations being proposed each week. Sign up for one of DEC’s many electronic newsletter topics or subscribe to the Conservationist, New York State’s award-winning nature magazine.

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DEC Delivers: Email Newsletters

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Get Involved

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DEC sponsors events across New York including informational webinars, public meetings, and in-person environmental education sessions. Environmental justice programs address needs in disadvantaged communities and many grants are available for community groups and municipalities.

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Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) - NYSDEC
DEC protects the land, water, and air resources in New York. Whether it is addressing climate change effects, promoting responsible waste management, monitoring air quality, overseeing contaminated site clean-ups, or oil and gas mining monitoring, DEC is there to safeguard the environment; you can too by reporting environmental violations and problems. 

Ways to Protect

Report a Problem

Public Safety

Wildfires

Air

Water

Bulk Storage

Recycling and Composting

Waste Management

Mining & Reclamation

Site Cleanup

Oil and Gas

Pesticides

Mercury

Radiation

Acid Rain

Climate Change

Facilities In Your Neighborhood

Offshore Wind Development

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Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)

Regulatory

Regulatory

DEC uses policies and regulations to limit environmental impacts. We issue permits and licenses to individuals, municipalities, and corporations so they can comply with these regulations.

Regulations and Enforcement

Regulations

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Guidance And Policy Documents

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Hearings

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Find a Permit or License

Permit Documentation For Notable Projects

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News

News

The Environmental Notice Bulletin lets you know about projects or regulations being proposed each week. Sign up for one of DEC’s many electronic newsletter topics or subscribe to the Conservationist, New York State’s award-winning nature magazine.

Stay Informed

Press Releases

Environmental Notice Bulletin

Conservationist Magazine

DEC Delivers: Email Newsletters

Storms & Alerts

Podcast

Get Involved

Get Involved

DEC sponsors events across New York including informational webinars, public meetings, and in-person environmental education sessions. Environmental justice programs address needs in disadvantaged communities and many grants are available for community groups and municipalities.

See How You Can Get Involved

Education

Events

Find a Form

Environmental Justice

Grant Applications

Living the Green Life

Public Participation

HuntFishNY Mobile App

Environmental Excellence Awards

About

About

Passionate about the environment?
High Peaks Wilderness Complex - NYSDEC
Whether it is addressing climate change effects, promoting responsible waste management, monitoring air quality, overseeing contaminated site clean-ups, or oil and gas mining monitoring, DEC is there to safeguard the environment; you can too by reporting environmental violations and problems. 

Ways to Protect

Report a Problem

Public Safety

Wildfires

Air

Water

Bulk Storage

Recycling and Composting

Waste Management

Mining & Reclamation

Site Cleanup

Oil and Gas

Pesticides

Mercury

Radiation

Acid Rain

Climate Change

Facilities In Your Neighborhood

Offshore Wind Development

Help For Businesses

Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)

Regulatory

Regulatory

DEC uses policies and regulations to limit environmental impacts. We issue permits and licenses to individuals, municipalities, and corporations so they can comply with these regulations.

Regulations and Enforcement

Regulations

Regulatory Agenda

Guidance And Policy Documents

Enforcement

Hearings

Permits, Licenses, and Registrations

Find a Permit or License

Permit Documentation For Notable Projects

Natural Resource Damages (NRD)

News

News

The Environmental Notice Bulletin lets you know about projects or regulations being proposed each week. Sign up for one of DEC’s many electronic newsletter topics or subscribe to the Conservationist, New York State’s award-winning nature magazine.

Stay Informed

Press Releases

Environmental Notice Bulletin

Conservationist Magazine

DEC Delivers: Email Newsletters

Storms & Alerts

Podcast

Get Involved

Get Involved

DEC sponsors events across New York including informational webinars, public meetings, and in-person environmental education sessions. Environmental justice programs address needs in disadvantaged communities and many grants are available for community groups and municipalities.

See How You Can Get Involved

Education

Events

Find a Form

Environmental Justice

Grant Applications

Living the Green Life

Public Participation

HuntFishNY Mobile App

Environmental Excellence Awards

About

About

Passionate about the environment? Check our employment pages and come work for DEC. If you have a question, we are here to help so contact us using one of the roster or office pages on our site. 

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An Unequal Air Pollution Burden at School
As part of the project, co-led by Columbia University researchers Carolynne Hultquist and Susana Beatriz Adamo, students are using portable air quality sensors to monitor air indoor and outdoor air pollution at ground level. They will also compare their measurements to satellite observations of outdoor pollution. The photo above, taken by Keerti Gopal, shows a senior at the school showing how she set up an air quality monitoring app on her phone.
“We want our scientists to be working in partnership with the community,” Gupta said. “This project in the Bronx is a great example of that approach.”

2017 - 2019

More information about how to access and use NASA satellite data for equity research is available from the websites of the NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET), NASA Earthdata, and NASA’s Applied Science Program. 
 


 NASA Earth Observatory animations by Wanmei Liang, using data from Cheeseman, Michael, et al. (2022). Student demographic data from the National Center for Education Statistics. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photograph courtesy of Keerti Gopal. Story by Adam Voiland.

Satellite observations show that students of color in the U.S. attend public schools with higher concentrations of air pollution than their white peers.
Image of the Day for November 1, 2023

Instruments:
Aura — OMI
Landsat 8 — OLI
Map
Photograph

Appears in this Collection:
Air Quality

Image of the Day
Human Presence

View more Images of the Day:

Oct 31, 2023

Nov 2, 2023

References & Resources

American Geophysical Union (2022, November 16) Air pollution high at US school with kinds from marginalized groups. Accessed October 31, 2023.
American Lung Association (2023, October 31) Disparities in the Impact of Air Pollution. Accessed October 31, 2023.
Bechle, M. et al. (2023) Ambient NO2 Air Pollution and Public Schools in the United States: Relationships with Urbanicity, Race—Ethnicity, and Income. Environmental Sci.
Acid Rain - NYSDEC
Acid rain comes in many forms: rain, snow, sleet, hail, and fog (wet deposition), and as acid particles, aerosols, and gases (dry deposition). Acid deposition forms when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) combine with moisture in the atmosphere to produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid.

 

By the 1960s, it became clear to scientists that acid deposition was devastating natural resources across New York. The Catskill and Adirondack Mountains were particularly hard hit. Soils were becoming too acidic to maintain healthy forests with noticeable tree die-offs at higher elevations. Many lakes, mountain streams, and some rivers were unable to support healthy populations of fish.Causes of Acid RainSeveral sources that contribute to creating acid rain include:Combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas, wood, etc.) for energy.SO2 emissions have been reduced in modern power plants with the introduction of low-sulfur fuel and the use of scrubbers in the smokestacks to remove the sulfur from the emissions. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the US consumption of coal for electric generation has dropped by over 25 percent in the last six years.NOx emissions are reduced by using low NOx combustors and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or non-selective catalytic reduction (NSCR) in the smokestacks.Emissions from motor vehicles, airplanes, power plants, and industries.Since the mid-1970s, two important features have been added to automobiles - catalytic converters and electronic fuel injection (EFI). Catalytic converters are located in the exhaust system to remove NOx emissions. EFI controls the formation of NOx emissions during combustion of the fuels.Starting in 1996, automobiles have been equipped with onboard diagnostics (OBDII). This equipment signals the driver when the emission controls are not working, causing the car to create more pollution.Changes continue to be to reduce the amount of sulfur in vehicle fuels. Cars using low-sulfur fuels emit less SO2 and NOx.