Wildfires may be sending far more harmful pollution into the air than scientists once believed, new research suggests.
A study published Monday in Environmental Science & Technology, a journal of the American Chemical Society, found that wildfires and prescribed burns release more air-polluting gases than earlier estimates suggested.
"Our new estimates increase the organic compound emissions from wildland fires by about 21%," first author Lyuyin Huang said in a news release.
"The inventory provides a foundation for more detailed air-quality modeling, health-risk assessment and climate-related policy analysis," added Huang, of Tsinghua University in Beijing.
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