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Five steps to improve air-quality forecasts

A worldwide monitoring and modelling network would reduce the dramatic toll of air pollution on health and food production, urge Rajesh Kumar and colleagues.
  1. Rajesh Kumar

    1. Rajesh Kumar is a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, USA.

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  2. Vincent-Henri Peuch

    1. Vincent-Henri Peuch heads the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service operated by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, UK.

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  3. James H. Crawford

    1. James H. Crawford is NASA’s senior scientist for tropospheric chemistry at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, USA.

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  4. Guy Brasseur

    1. Guy Brasseur is director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory at NCAR.

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Smog shrouds Chile's capital Santiago

Smog envelops Santiago in Chile. Credit: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

Seven million people die every year from the effects of air pollution. More than 90% of such deaths are in developing countries1. Across southern Asia, levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and surface ozone exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) limits for much of the year2. Ozone damage to crops and plants — especially to soya beans, wheat and maize (corn) — results in 79 million to 121 million tonnes of lost produce globally, at a cost of US$11 billion to $18 billion3. India’s crop losses alone would feed 94 million people4. All this costs the world’s economy US$5 trillion per year5.

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Nature 561, 27-29 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06150-5

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