Air quality

Lessons from disasters will help maintain Australia’s excellent air quality

CSIRO's leading research, as captured in the latest State of the Environment report, explores the vulnerability of our air quality to catastrophic events like bushfires, and improvements we can make to manage pollution in the face of increasing hazardous events.

country side with smoke plume in the distance

Protecting the health of Australians through improved bushfire smoke forecasting

Air quality forecasting improvements will be able to provide hourly and daily information on pollutants in the air to help fire and environmental authorities, and the community.

SMOG gets students into STEM

A DIY gadget for detecting smoke has enabled primary school students to play detective and track down problems in the air around them.

smoke plumes in the distance with a tussocky peninsula in foreground

Up in smoke

In 2006, when fires broke out near Cape Grim, Tasmania, scientists measured the smoke plumes in unprecedented detail, resulting in a more accurate smoke forecasting tool for use in weather forecasting, and for issuing health-related smoke warnings.

storm clouds

Tracing pollen to better forecast asthma storms

The science of thunderstorm asthma is relatively unknown, what is least understood is the interaction between pollen and thunderstorms.

Woman in yellow jacket

State of the Environment: Atmosphere

Technological advances like the Himawari-8 launched by Japan in 2014 have made significant improvements to our ability to measure the atmosphere, according to the latest State of the Environment Report.

Woman with cityscape in background

Breathing the quality air down under

As cities go, Australia's have some of the best air quality in the world. But even the relatively clean air of Australia can contain enough pollutants to impact on our health.

The Blue Mountains NSW

Beating the eucalypt blues – new ways to model air quality

Australia is obliged to report on pollution levels. How we model these levels can be improved.

Dandelion Seeds blowing in the wind

New software to help protect Australia from wind-borne threats

Wind helps the spread of some serious environmental pests within Australia, and now a new online tool for modelling the dispersal of living organisms is helping prepare for and respond to these wind-borne threats.