Brown haze and sea breeze: New insights into Auckland’s winter air pollution

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-08-19 08:47

New Zealand

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Winter heralds the arrival of a hazy brown cloud of air pollution and dust in many international cities, which is bad for residents' respiratory health. New Zealand scientists analysed data from seven Auckland winters, and found that brown haze was significantly more likely to occur on days with land-sea breeze on both the east and west coast. These findings suggest that the recirculation of air pollution is enhanced when these coastal breezes come together, but the authors note that the eastern land-sea breeze is a stronger contributor to severe brown haze in the CBD.