ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY · ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Understanding the air we breathe, the climate we shape.

We investigate how human activities and natural processes shape the chemical composition of the atmosphere at the molecular level and its consequences for air quality and climate.

Emissions · Aerosols · Health · Climate
Molecules clustering into aerosol particles above a city affected by air pollution

Recent lab updates

  • 2026Khare Research Lab starts at the Kotak School of Sustainability, IIT Kanpur!
  • 2026Mobile measurements from wintertime Sarajevo published in Environmental International.
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OBSERVE✳MEASURE✳UNDERSTAND✳IMPROVE

AIR POLLUTION & HEALTH

The human cost of polluted air

Estimated deaths attributable to air pollution, projected from IHME’s annual burden estimates.

Year-to-date estimates load automatically. Daily averages are shown below.

Daily projection • Updated at midnight India Standard Time. These are illustrative estimates, not recorded deaths or a live surveillance feed. Worldwide includes India.

Data source & calculation

Source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease 2023, as reported in State of Global Air 2025 (HEI / IHME). Reference-year estimates: approximately 2 million deaths in India and 7.9 million worldwide in 2023. The report describes India’s total as more than 2 million; this display uses a rounded 2 million baseline. Includes the combined burden from ambient particulate matter, household air pollution and ozone.

Daily average = rounded annual estimate ÷ 365. The year-to-date projection multiplies this average by completed calendar days since 1 January in India Standard Time. Values are rounded to the nearest ten. This assumes a constant daily burden and does not represent seasonal variation, current-year observations or uncertainty intervals. Only the projection updates daily; source estimates require revision when a new dataset is adopted.

Read the source report (2025) · Source checked: 5 October 2026.

India

—Estimated deaths this year through yesterday

≈ 5,480 deaths per day on average

Worldwide

—Estimated deaths this year through yesterday

≈ 21,640 deaths per day on average

OUR APPROACH

From emissions to impacts
Why air chemistry matters?

The atmosphere is a complex reactor in which hundreds of thousands of precursors transform via different oxidation processes. Gases form airborne particles - particles can form clouds, deposit in our lungs or impact the broader ecosystem. We combine field measurements, laboratory experiments and advanced data wrangling and analysis methods to trace reactive organic emissions from their sources through chemical transformation to effects on air quality.

See what we study ↗

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Questions in the air

All research ↗

“Quality measurements help us find effective solutions to environmental challenges.”

— KHARE RESEARCH LAB, IIT KANPUR

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Curious about the atmosphere?

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INTERACTIVE · LITERATURE-GROUNDED CHEMICAL SCHEMATIC

How atmospheric oxidation unfolds

Gas-phase organicsRadicals / reactive intermediatesParticle-phase organic materialNOₓ / ozone chemistryDashed edges = conditional / multistep

Conceptual, non-quantitative mechanism map; not a kinetic simulation. Node positions and edge thickness do not indicate branching fractions or product yields. R denotes a generic organic group, not a single compound. Scenarios illustrate competing pathways, not exclusive or universal chemistry. NOₓ labels are qualitative; actual RO₂ branching depends on NO, HO₂, RO₂, structure, temperature, and other conditions. Condensation depends on volatility, aerosol loading, temperature and composition; heterogeneous/aqueous pathways are additional possibilities. Click any visible node for explanation and peer-reviewed sources.