Pusan National University study finds climate-driven greening is reshaping East Asia's air pollution

Updating vegetation data with satellite observations reveals that climate-driven changes can significantly alter ozone and aerosol pollution

Pusan National University

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Satellite observations revealed major vegetation changes across East Asia between 2003 and 2024. By updating vegetation data in an atmospheric chemistry model, researchers found that climate-driven greening altered natural plant emissions, leading to changes in ozone and biogenic secondary organic aerosols. The air quality impacts varied across the region depending on the interaction between vegetation changes and nitrogen oxide availability, highlighting the importance of using up-to-date vegetation data in air quality models.

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Credit: Professor Hyo-Jung Lee and Research Professor Yu-Jin Jo from Pusan National University, Republic of Korea

The effects of climate change extend far beyond rising temperatures. As forests and other vegetation respond to a warming world, they also change the amount of biogenic emissions released into the atmosphere, influencing the formation of ozone (O3) and fine particulate pollution. Yet many atmospheric chemistry models still estimate these emissions using vegetation data from 2003, despite major ecological changes across East Asia over the past two decades.

A new study led by Professor Hyo-Jung Lee and Research Professor Yu-Jin Jo from Pusan National University, Republic of Korea, together with Dr. Younha Kim from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, and researchers from Pusan National University, shows that updating vegetation information with recent satellite observations can significantly change estimates of biogenic emissions and air pollution. This study was made available online on March 30, 2026, and was published in Volume 299 of the journal Environmental Research on June 15, 2026.

"Our results show that updating vegetation information alone can substantially change biogenic emissions, O₃, and biogenic secondary organic aerosols (BSOA)," says Prof. Lee.

Plants emit biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), including isoprene and monoterpenes, which undergo atmospheric reactions and contribute to the formation of ground-level O3 and BSOA. Because these emissions depend on the amount and type of vegetation, changes in forests and plant growth can directly influence air quality.

To investigate this effect, the researchers used the WRF-Chem atmospheric chemistry model coupled with the MEGAN biogenic emissions model. They replaced the model's default vegetation dataset from 2003 with satellite-derived vegetation observations from 2024 while using the same model configuration and meteorological conditions. This approach allowed the team to isolate the impact of updated vegetation data, specifically the effects of vegetation changes alone.

Satellite observations showed an overall increase in vegetation across East Asia, but the magnitude and direction of change varied spatially, with strong greening in parts of China and localized declines in Japan. These vegetation changes altered modeled O₃ and BSOA concentrations, with the largest increases occurring in suburban areas, where a balance between vegetation changes and NOₓ availability favored secondary pollutant formation. Urban areas showed smaller responses because vegetation changes were limited despite high NOₓ levels, whereas rural areas showed smaller responses because NOₓ levels remained low despite substantial vegetation changes.

"Our findings demonstrate that regularly updating vegetation datasets in biogenic emission modules can improve the accuracy of atmospheric chemistry models," says Prof. Lee.

The researchers say the results highlight the importance of keeping vegetation datasets up to date as climate change continues to reshape ecosystems across East Asia.

"This study highlights the importance of routinely updating vegetation datasets so that atmospheric chemistry models can more accurately represent changing ecosystems and their interactions with atmospheric chemistry," says Prof. Jo.

The researchers say incorporating current satellite observations into atmospheric chemistry models could improve operational air quality forecasting and provide more reliable scientific information for air quality management under changing environmental conditions. They note that the study focused on August 2024, when vegetation activity is highest, and that future work will examine additional seasons and longer time periods to better understand how changing vegetation will affect air quality in the years ahead.

 

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Reference
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2026.124392

 

About Pusan National University
Pusan National University, located in Busan, South Korea, was founded in 1946 and is now the No. 1 national university of South Korea in research and educational competency. The multi-campus university also has other smaller campuses in Yangsan, Miryang, and Ami. The university prides itself on the principles of truth, freedom, and service and has approximately 30,000 students, 1,200 professors, and 750 faculty members. The university comprises 14 colleges (schools) and one independent division, with 103 departments in all.

Website: https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do

 

About Professor Hyo-Jung Lee
Professor Hyo-Jung Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Pusan National University, Republic of Korea. Her research focuses on atmospheric chemistry, air quality modeling, and biosphere–atmosphere interactions. Her group integrates atmospheric chemistry models, satellite observations, and field measurements to investigate air pollutant formation, long-range transport, and the impacts of climate and ecosystem changes on regional air quality.

Lab: mac.pusan.ac.kr

ORCID id: 0000-0003-3943-2671  

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Journal

Environmental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.envres.2026.124392 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Impacts of climate-driven vegetation changes on air quality over East Asia: Modulation of biogenic VOC emissions and secondary pollutants

 

Historic discovery finds 19th-century estate agent used peepshow technology to create proto version of Rightmove

University of Exeter

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The Brooks and Green advert, taken from The Patriot, dated 4 April, 1842

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Credit: ‘Brooks and Green’, The Patriot, 4 April 1842, 1.

A 19th-century estate agent created the world’s first version of Rightmove more than 160 years before the birth of online property previews.

Brooks and Green, a high-end estate agent based in Old Bond Street, London, used an early form of immersive visual technology called a cosmorama to offer prospective buyers a virtual tour of the properties they were selling.

New research by the University of Exeter has discovered that for 20 years during the 1840s and 50s, decades before photography was used for advertising property, Brooks and Green had created their very own version of a ‘digital walk-through’.

The discovery has emerged as part of a broader study of the history of the cosmorama across Europe and its contribution to the development of ‘show-business’. It’s been published in a special themed edition of Early Popular Visual Culture.

“For half a century, the cosmorama was one of the most common forms of visual show across Europe and the Americas,” said Professor John Plunkett, an expert in 19th-century visual media, and lead author of the paper. “Similar in format to other early forms of immersive entertainment, such as the peepshow, the cosmorama offered picture galleries for the people, tapping into an era of greater travel and offering views of international tourist sites and scenes from across the British Empire. What we’ve discovered through this latest research project, however, is that its use extended beyond simple entertainment: the appeal of cosmoramas was that they sold an experience of virtual travel. This was utilised by one of a new type of dedicated estate agents seeking to sell a growing number of luxury properties and country estates.”

These new insights have emerged through the European research project, CURIOSITAS: Peeping Before Virtual Reality. A Media Archaeology of Immersion Through VR and the Iberian Cosmoramas led by the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon.

Professor Plunkett worked with the project team to investigate the history of this visual technology in the UK and Ireland. By analysing newspaper archives containing adverts and articles, he mapped its emerging use, particularly from the 1820s onwards. The research project catalogued over 650 cosmoramas in Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, with many others exhibited in countries as far apart as North America, Brazil, Cuba and Australia.

In cosmorama galleries, the paintings were not immediately visible. They were hidden behind walls and viewed through convex lenses that enlarged them and enhanced their depth effects. With the addition of clever lighting effects, the viewer enjoyed an immersive experience. From lens to lens, the viewer would embark on a picturesque journey around the world.

Professor Plunkett found examples of cosmorama galleries in cities across Britain and Ireland. The paper explores how cosmorama began appearing in urban bazaars – the 19th-century equivalent of a department store – as well as becoming a popular feature of the touring shows that travelled around Britain.

And it was during this research that Professor Plunkett, of Exeter’s Department of English and Creative Writing, found evidence that a London business was using a cosmorama in a truly innovative way. Advertisements in London newspapers in the late 1830s revealed that auctioneer and surveyor Brooks and Hedger (later, Brooks and Green), on Old Bond Street, close to the Cosmorama Rooms of Regent Street, were offering cosmoramic views of some of the properties and estates they were selling.

The firm advertised their cosmoramic views until at least 1859. They claimed that their gallery included ‘several Hundred Views of different estates’ from an ‘Aerial Perspective’ showing the house and relevant grounds. Professor Plunkett said that for each view produced, an artist would have had to spend time at the property, making it a labour-intensive process likely reserved for the more exclusive sales.

He said: “In contemporary life, prospective purchasers of real estate are usually aided by a full suite of photographs and floor plans, and often an online video walk-through. Nineteenth-century buyers had no such advantages.

“But the founding of the first specialised estate agents set in motion a more professional approach to marketing property, fuelled by population growth, urbanisation and improved transport links. In that context, we can see how Brooks and Green pioneered the virtual tour, over 150 years before digital technology would fully realise the potential.”

Cosmoramas, Immersive Viewing and the Co-Evolution of the Peepshow is published in Early Popular Visual Culture.

An illustration of a cosmorama, taken from the women's magazine, La Belle Assemblee

Credit

C. Blunt, ‘popular description of the cosmorama’, La Belle Assemblée, nº155, vol. 24, November 1821, 233.

Journal

Early Popular Visual Culture

DOI

10.1080/17460654.2026.2700727 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Cosmoramas, immersive viewing and the evolution of peep practice

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2026

 

Subsonic or supersonic?

Nicola Pugno of the University of Trento proposes a new analytical approach to determine the limiting velocity of a fracture that triggers an avalanche. Published in Matter, the findings help clarify a debate on avalanche crack propagation

Università di Trento

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Nicola Pugno conducting a snow test at the European highest altitude (Mont Blanc, 4810m, 23 May 2026) 

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Credit: ph. Luca Nervo

Can a crack be supersonic? Can the fracture that triggers an avalanche propagate faster than the limiting velocity predicted by classical fracture mechanics?

The question remains the subject of debate within the scientific community. While some numerical and experimental studies suggest that avalanche cracks may propagate at supersonic speeds, others offer a different interpretation.

The issue stems from the fact that the snowpack is often treated as a homogeneous material, for which the reference limiting velocity is well defined. In reality, however, it consists of multiple layers with different mechanical properties. What, then, are the factors that limit crack propagation velocity in such a multilayered material?

This is the question addressed by the latest research of Nicola Pugno, Full Professor of Solids and Structural Mechanics in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trento. His study proposes a new theoretical approach to determine the limiting velocity of avalanche cracks.

"The analytical results reveal a clear transition between a regime governed by the snow slab that detaches and another governed by the weak layer, or its interface, along which the fracture propagates. In the presence of a stiffer weak layer or interface, the crack may 'feel' a local stiffness greater than the global one, and therefore appear to propagate at a globally supersonic speed while remaining locally subsonic. This finding at least partially reconciles the different interpretations reported in the avalanche literature and is based on a characteristic energy length previously introduced to explain the two propagation regimes that had already emerged from numerical studies," explains Pugno.

The results have been published as a Matter of Opinion - a short article written by experts also on current research challenges - in Matter, the international journal of the Cell Press group, under the title Sub-Rayleigh or supershear crack propagation in snow avalanches?

"My approach represents a brief analytical contribution, building on pioneering numerical work by fellow mechanicians. I hope it will help shed further light on a complex issue that certainly requires additional theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation. In essence, the new theory should make it possible to better understand whether, and under what conditions - for example depending on the snow layering and mass - an avalanche is capable of sustaining supersonic crack propagation," comments Nicola Pugno.

Why is it important to know whether a crack propagates at supersonic speed?

"A particularly rapid release of energy can be even more catastrophic, and this should also be taken into account when designing structures that may be impacted by the snow mass, such as avalanche barriers and exposed buildings," says Pugno.

In the longer term, Pugno's contribution may also improve our ability to predict avalanches more accurately, including their propagation front and other key characteristics.

"The uncertainties in the constitutive laws of snow - which, moreover, is not a linearly elastic material - combined with the multilayered nature of the snowpack, motivated this approach and call for the development of further theoretical, numerical and experimental frameworks."

 

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Journal

Matter

DOI

10.1016/j.matt.2026.102957 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Sub-Rayleigh or supershear crack propagation in snow avalanches?

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2026

 

Two origins of life

Early Evolution of Life: Publication in Science Advances

Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf

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Metabolism of the first cells: Starting compounds are shown at the left, they are converted by metabolism into the building blocks of life. The 420 enzymatic reactions are indicated as circles, chemical metabolites as diamonds, lines connect reactions having common metabolites. Circles shown in magenta shading indicate reactions that could have been catalysed by inorganic compounds in the environment where metabolism of the first cells arose. (Image: HHU/Nadja Hoffmann)

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Credit: HHU/Nadja Hoffmann

How and where did the first forms of life arise? These are the main questions driving research at the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU). In a new publication in Science Advances, an international team led by Düsseldorf biologists uncovers pioneering insights into the network of chemical reactions that the very first cells used to make the building blocks of life and which sources of energy they used to drive those reactions. They retraced the origin of enzymes during life’s earliest divergence into bacteria and archaea, and found evidence for two independent origins of life for free-living cells.

If we could go back 4 billion years in time and watch as the first cells emerged on Earth, what would we see? “We would see two very different kinds of cells emerging, pioneer bacteria and pioneer archaea, making their first attempts at life outside the confines of a hydrothermal vent” says Natalia Mrnjavac, biologist at the University of Düsseldorf and lead author on the new publication in Science Advances.

There, Mrnjavac and an international team of scientists report investigations of genomes, protein structures and chemical reactions that probe the very earliest phases of microbial evolution before there were free living cells. “These comparisons are giving us unprecedented insights into the phase of evolution when metabolism catalysed by enzymes was arising from spontaneous reactions catalysed by metals in the Earth’s crust” says Düsseldorf biologist William Martin, senior author of the study.

The approach that the team took differs from all previous investigations of early evolution by looking at the entire set of chemical reactions that cells use to make the building blocks of life (amino acids, RNA bases and vitamins) from compounds present on the early Earth: hydrogen gas, ammonia and CO2. This set of 420 chemical reactions is called metabolism. The chemical reactions themselves are as universally conserved as the genetic code.

Martin: “The surprise is that the enzymes that catalyse those reactions are not conserved across the evolutionary divide that separates bacteria and archaea. We found that the last universal ancestor of all cells, LUCA, possessed enzymes for only about half of the reactions of metabolism. The other half was catalysed by metals in the environment where LUCA arose.”

“Metals that naturally occur in hydrothermal vents can replace a surprisingly large number of enzymes in metabolism” says Harun Tüysüz, inorganic chemist from the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung and the IMDEA Materials Institute in Madrid, and co-author on the study.

“The closer we look, the more clearly we can see that early biochemical evolution was a hybrid of enzymatic and metal catalysts” says Joseph Moran from the University of Ottawa, Canada, an international leader in the use of metals to catalyse metabolic reactions, replacing enzymes and cofactors.

A big step forward in the present study was that the team could reconstruct four phases of early evolution of catalysis: metal-only, a metal-enzyme hybrid in LUCA, followed by divergent evolution towards the ancestors of the bacteria and archaeal lineages. In those lineages, new enzymes were arising, replacing inorganic catalysts provided by the environment where metabolism arose.

“We can see cases where the ancestors of bacteria and archaea independently evolved structurally distinct enzymes to catalyse the same essential metabolic reaction,” says Mrnjavac, “such parallel inventions could have paved the way to the independent emergence of free-living bacteria and archaea.”

And where did the energy come from to drive these reactions forward? Today the energy in metabolism mainly comes in the form of ATP, but ATP is a complicated molecule, made by enzymes, not a compound that was lying around for free in hydrothermal vents. “We have identified a new source of energy at metabolic origin” says Manon Schlikker from the Düsseldorf team. Among the metals that naturally occur in hydrothermal vents are palladium, an excellent catalyst known and used by chemists for a century. “When we react phosphite, a form of phosphorus that naturally occurs in hydrothermal vents, with organic compounds, we get metabolic phosphorylation reactions overnight in water. Phosphite and palladium replace ATP and enzymes; it’s amazing, and it makes early evolution a lot easier to grasp” says Schlikker.

The study is the first focused investigation into the reaction set called metabolism. That reaction set is a highly interconnected network of 420 reactions, with many compounds participating in multiple reactions. Such networks can be mathematically challenging to deal with. But among the authors are Prof. Mike Steel, from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and Prof. Daniel Huson from the University of Tübingen. Experts when it comes to networks, they devised a new method to order metabolic reactions from the simplest to the most complex, possibly recapitulating the order in which metabolic reactions arose at origins. “The first question,” says Steel, “is whether or not a unique order exists for these reactions. Once we could prove that there is one, the algorithm to order them became tractable.”

It is part of our human condition to want to know about our origins, where we come from, where life started and how the first cells on Earth made a living. And what is the larger significance of the new findings? Martin: “The new data leave only one conclusion. The bacteria and archaeal lineages made the transition to the free-living state independently. Only free-living cells are alive. Let’s call it by name: we are looking at one origin of the genetic code, but two origins of life.”

In addition to researchers from HHU, the international team included scientists from the Universities of Canterbury (New Zealand), Rostock, Constance, Ottawa (Canada), Strasbourg und Tübingen, the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg and the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim/Ruhr plus the IMDEA Materials Institute in Madrid (Spain).

Background: Bacteria and Archaea

Biologists divide life forms into two categories: Eukaryotes – advanced cells with a cell nucleus – and the more ancient cells lineages without a nucleus: the prokaryotes. The prokaryotes comprise the two primordial lineages of life: Bacteria and Archaea. Many prokaryotes can survive in extreme conditions such as high temperatures, acid or alkaline environments. Many inhabit hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor where, in some theories, life is thought to have arisen.  

Original publication

Natalia Mrnjavac, Nadja K. Hoffmann, Manon L. Schlikker, Maximilian Burmeister, Loraine Schwander, Carolina García García, Max Brabender, Mike Steel, Daniel H. Huson, Sabine Metzger, Quentin Dherbassy, Bernhard Schink, Mirko Basen, Joseph Moran, Harun Tüysüz, Martina Preiner, William F. Martin; Intermediate stages in the origin of metabolism at a phosphorylating hydrothermal vent; Science Advances 12, eaef3128 (2026)

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aef3128

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aef3128 

Article Title

Intermediate stages in the origin of metabolism at a phosphorylating hydrothermal vent

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2026