--- title: Watch: New NASA Images Show US Air Pollution Dropping description: The air we breathe is a bit better, new images show canonical: https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-29T15:31:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:41:15.686Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch: New NASA Images Show US Air Pollution Dropping og:description: The air we breathe is a bit better, new images show og:url: https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0fdc393214bae6/698699d135ba6f0627c02d02/1383451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Los Angeles Air Still Among Nation's Dirtiest og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: New NASA Images Show US Air Pollution Dropping twitter:description: The air we breathe is a bit better, new images show twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0fdc393214bae6/698699d135ba6f0627c02d02/1383451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch: NASA Says U.S. Air Pollution Has Plummeted > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jun 29, 2014 3:31 PM UTC  Downtown highrise buildings are shown cloaked in dirty air shortly after sunrise September 11, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. Downtown highrise buildings are shown cloaked in dirty air shortly after sunrise September 11, 2002 in Los Angeles, California.David McNew—Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jun 29, 2014 3:31 PM UTC Striking new images released by NASA[ this week](http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/27/us/nasa-air-quality/) show significant reductions in air pollution levels across the United States. In particular, at least one pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, has decreased substantially over the past decade. After ten years in orbit, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on [NASA’s Aura satellite](http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/) showed that the decrease is particularly prominent in the Northeast, the Ohio River Valley, and other major cities. For example, NASA [reported](http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-nasa-images-highlight-us-air-quality-improvement/#.U7Ar8ZRdUhE) a 32% decrease in New York City and a 42% decrease in Atlanta between the periods of 2005-2007 and 2009-2011. Air pollution decreased even though population and the number of cars on the roads have increased, and the shift can be explained as a result of better regulations, technological improvements and economic shifts, scientists said. “While our air quality has certainly improved over the last few decades, there is still work to do – ozone and particulate matter are still problems,” [said ](http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-nasa-images-highlight-us-air-quality-improvement/#.U7Ar8ZRdUhE)Bryan Duncan, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/"},"headline":"Watch: NASA Says U.S. Air Pollution Has Plummeted","datePublished":"2014-06-29T15:31:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:41:15.686Z","description":"The air we breathe is a bit better, new images show","url":"https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/","keywords":["Environment","weather","NASA","Pollution","Air"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0fdc393214bae6/698699d135ba6f0627c02d02/1383451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0fdc393214bae6/698699d135ba6f0627c02d02/1383451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Los Angeles Air Still Among Nation's Dirtiest","caption":"Los Angeles Air Still Among Nation's Dirtiest","creditText":"David McNew—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2937884/nasa-air-pollution/","name":"Watch: NASA Says U.S. Air Pollution Has Plummeted"}}]}] ```