NASA’s new map shows how smoke and pollution travels across the globe

By Dean Murray

A jaw-dropping new visualization shows how tiny airborne particles—known as aerosols—travel thousands of miles, influencing air quality and visibility far from their source.

NASA's vivid simulation shows how sea salt (blue), dust (pink), smoke (orange-red), and sulfates from pollution and volcanoes (green) spread across thousands of miles globally.

Highlights include Sahara dust dimming skies in the Caribbean and US, smoke from record wildfires in South America and Canada drifting across oceans, and Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano sending a sulfate stream westwards.

Hurricanes and typhoons were shown pulling in dust, pollution and sea salt with their powerful winds.

The study uses NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System to combine millions of daily observations in near real time, revealing how weather links distant regions. This research covers the period between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14, 2024.

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio said: "This visualization helps us understand how our atmosphere connects distant parts of the world. What happens in one region—whether natural events or human activities—can affect weather patterns and air quality thousands of miles away.

"By tracking these movements, NASA helps communities prepare for changes in air quality and visibility while advancing our understanding of Earth's complex atmospheric system."

The visualization was developed using NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), a complex modeling and data assimilation system that creates global analyses of the Earth System.

GEOS integrates satellite observations, in situ measurements, and approximately one million weather observations collected hourly to inform its models.