From Global to local: A multi-scale air quality modeling study over the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo

Air pollution is one of the main environmental problems in large urban centers, affecting people’s health and impacting quality of life. The Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) presents frequent exceedances of air-quality standards in inhalable particulate matter (PM10), a consequence of pollutant emissions modulated by meteorological conditions. This study aims to identify and characterize PM10persistent exceedance events (PEE) inthe MASP between 2005 and 2017, relating them to meteorological conditions. The criteria used to select the events were: (i) events that occurred in at least 50% of the air-quality monitoring stations chosen for this study and, (ii) among the events that met the first criterion, those with a duration equal to or greater than five days, which correspond to the 80% percentile of the event duration distribution. A total 71 persistent episodes of exceedance were selected. The results show that the exceedance of PM10 lasted up to 14 consecutive days and was predominant in the austral winter, accompanied by an increase in maximum temperature (T), a decrease in wind speed (WS) and relative humidity (RH), and a wind direction predominantly from the northwest during the peak concentration of the pollutant. On average, a concentration increase of 60% was observed at the peak of the PEE.

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New method for evaluating winter air quality: PM2.5 assessment using Community Multi-Scale Air Quality Modeling (CMAQ) in Xi'an

Atmospheric Environment ◽

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.04.019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 211 ◽

pp. 18-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xiaochun Yang ◽

Qizhong Wu ◽

Rong Zhao ◽

Huaqiong Cheng ◽

Huijuan He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Air Quality Modeling ◽

New Method ◽

Multi Scale ◽

Quality Modeling

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An Air Quality Modeling Study Comparing Two Possible Sites for the New International Airport for Mexico City

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association ◽

10.1080/10473289.2003.10466159 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 366-378 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Aron D. Jazcilevich ◽

Agustín R. García ◽

L. Gerardo Ruiz-Suárez ◽

Xóchitl Cruz-Nuñez ◽

Javier C. Delgado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Mexico City ◽

Air Quality Modeling ◽

International Airport ◽

Quality Modeling ◽

Modeling Study

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Influence of a Biomass-Burning Event in PM2.5 Concentration and Air Quality: A Case Study in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21020425 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 425

Author(s):

Gregori de Arruda Moreira ◽

Izabel da Silva Andrade ◽

Alexandre Cacheffo ◽

Fábio Juliano da Silva Lopes ◽

Alexandre Calzavara Yoshida ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

Sao Paulo ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

São Paulo ◽

Air Masses ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Quality Classification ◽

Entrainment Process

Severe biomass burning (BB) events have become increasingly common in South America in the last few years, mainly due to the high number of wildfires observed recently. Such incidents can negatively influence the air quality index associated with PM2.5 (particulate matter, which is harmful to human health). A study performed in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) took place on selected days of July 2019, evaluated the influence of a BB event on air quality. Use of combined remote sensing, a surface monitoring system and data modeling and enabled detection of the BB plume arrival (light detection and ranging (lidar) ratio of (50 ± 34) sr at 532 nm, and (72 ± 45) sr at 355 nm) and how it affected the Ångström exponent (>1.3), atmospheric optical depth (>0.7), PM2.5 concentrations (>25 µg.m−3), and air quality classification. The utilization of high-order statistical moments, obtained from elastic lidar, provided a new way to observe the entrainment process, allowing understanding of how a decoupled aerosol layer influences the local urban area. This new novel approach enables a lidar system to obtain the same results as a more complex set of instruments and verify how BB events contribute from air masses aloft towards near ground ones.

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