Heightened health risks due to wildfire pollutants: Results from an AI modeling study

The new study used artificial intelligence. Credit: NOAA

The Climate Program Office’s Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4) Program supported new research examining wildfire impacts on air quality and public health in the continental USA from 2000 to 2020. This work is jointly funded by OAR and NESDIS and executed through the NOAA Atmospheric Composition from Space (NACS) team. Supported researchers, Jun Wang from the University of Iowa and Susan Anenberg from George Washington University, collaborated with NOAA scientist Shobha Kondragunta and a team from NASA, and four other academic institutions to examine increasing wildfires and associated health risks in the western U.S. This work, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, contributes to an AC4 initiative to understand long-term trends in atmospheric composition and ultimately help plan for and respond to impacts.