Atmospheric Science

Drop in CO2 emissions during pandemic previews world of electric vehicles

November 10, 2020

In the six weeks after the San Francisco Bay Area instituted the nation’s first shelter-in-place mandate in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, regional carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 25%, almost all of it due to a nearly 50% drop in road traffic, according to new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

Though emissions have steadily increased since then, the dramatic response to a sharp cut-off in vehicular fossil fuel burning shows how effectively a move toward broad use of electric-powered vehicles would reduce the major greenhouse gas responsible for...

Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver elected American Geophysical Union Fellows

September 28, 2021

Headshots of Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver

Professors Kristie Boering and Whendee Silver. Photos courtesy UC Berkeley.

The College of Chemistry is delighted to announce that UC Berkeley faculty members Kristie A. Boering (Professor of Chemistry and of Earth and Planetary Science) and...

With drop in LA’s vehicular aerosol pollution, plants emerge as major source

March 23, 2021
Restrictions on vehicle emissions have been so effective that in Los Angeles that the most concerning source of dangerous aerosol pollution may well be trees and other green plants.

EVs are lowering Bay Area's carbon footprint

April 4, 2024
Ron Cohen and grad student Naomi Asimow conclude that the decrease in Bay Area CO2 is due to passenger vehicle electrification.

When scientists fight to save the climate

January 13, 2023

Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina in the lab, 1970s

Research by F. Sherwood Rowland and alum Mario Molina is at the heart of a recent positive U.N. report. (Photo courtesy of UC Irvine.)

A new article out from the UCI School of Physical Sciences states that on January 9, a...

Study answers questions about an elusive tiny molecule

March 15, 2022

Artistic rendering of N2O5 molecules colliding with water droplets in the atmosphere.

Artistic rendering of N2O5 molecules colliding with water droplets in the atmosphere. Image credit: Vinícius Cruzeiro.

A new study with implications for atmospheric chemistry has answered some long-...

Kristie A. Boering elected AAAS fellow

January 26, 2022

Kristie A. Boering

Kristie A. Boering (Photo Michael Barnes)

The College of Chemistry is delighted to announce that Kristie A. Boering (professor of chemistry and of earth and planetary science) has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s largest...

Liquid Sunlight: The Evolution of Photosynthetic Biohybrids

August 23, 2021

Energy innovation utilizing carbon dioxide, air, and water

This is an excerpt of an article in Nano Letters by Peidong Yang, S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professor of...

Alumna Susan Solomon joins Pontifical Academy of Science

August 2, 2021

Susan Solomon

Photo of Professor Solomon courtesy MIT.

The Holy Father has appointed as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) Susan Solomon (Ph.D. '81, Chem), the Lee and Geraldine...

Ron Cohen talks about the Beacon project

August 26, 2020

In a new video from Ron Cohen, UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry and Earth and Planetary Sciences, the remarkable change in our atmosphere with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is explored. Cohen postulates what the world would be like with fewer CO2 emissions.