Forests do more than absorb carbon dioxide: they also release a cocktail of invisible gases that can seed clouds, trap heat, and worsen air pollution. According to a feature from AGU Eos, these emissions — known as biogenic volatile organic compounds — react with sunlight and other pollutants to form fine particles and ozone, which affect everything from regional air quality to global climate.
Scientists are working to untangle the complex web of forest–sky chemistry, especially as climate change alters both forest composition and atmospheric conditions. The same molecules that help create clouds can also warm the atmosphere or degrade air quality, depending on how they interact with human-made pollution and weather patterns.
The article underscores that current climate models struggle to capture these feedbacks because the processes are highly variable across ecosystems and seasons. Better understanding of these "chemical conversations" between trees and the sky will be critical for predicting future air quality and climate outcomes.