Science
Wildfire smoke is lifting ground-level ozone, researchers say.
The particulates were already a known danger. The New York Times reported Sunday that ozone is rising with the smoke, and that millions of Americans have been in its path.
The Rocket News · Science Desk · New YorkOctober 4, 2026 · 3 min read
NEW YORK — Wildfire smoke’s fine particles are a known health hazard. Ground-level ozone is rising with that smoke as well, The New York Times reported Sunday. Clayton Dalton wrote the piece. In July, as smoke came down from Canadian fires, New York City began an emergency response for air that officials expected to be historically bad.
Researchers estimated that from 2022 to 2024 about 43 million people were exposed to potentially hazardous ozone because of wildfires. A study in Science Advances found that ozone spikes on smoky days. “The EPA has done a tremendous job in reducing ozone since the Clean Air Act,” Dr. Qiu said. “But now we’ve introduced a new source, and it’s changing really quickly.”
The photograph is New York under wildfire smoke, the haze the researchers measured. It is not a picture of ozone itself, and it is not this morning’s sky. The Science desk files the finding.
Wire and further reading: nytimes.com
Filed under Science
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