Abstract
Air pollution is one the main environmental problems in urban areas like the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) in Brazil, where millions of inhabitants are exposed to pollution concentrations above the standards, with potential health impacts. Exposure is unequal throughout MASP, relying on the dynamics of local emission sources interplaying with weather and climate in a regional scale. The ABC region — ABC standing for Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and São Caetano do Sul, the cities the area originally comprised of — is MASP’s largest industrial center, sitting in its southeast border, and encloses environmental protection areas. That leads to a unique emission profile that differ from the metropolis center. This study aims to characterize the variability of atmospheric pollutants in the ABC region in 2015, investigating possible sources and associations with surface meteorological conditions. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to data from seven air quality monitoring stations and surface meteorological variables. Results show that São Bernardo do Campo stood out, with O3 concentrations 20% higher (43±19 µg.m-3) than the other sites, while São Caetano do Sul had the highest annual mean PM10 concentrations (39±19 µg.m-3), mostly related to vehicular emissions. Relative humidity was negatively correlated with primary pollutants, while temperature and radiation correlated with O3. Unusually high O3 concentrations were observed in January of 2015, concomitant with negative anomalies of precipitation and relative humidity, likely associated with the 2014/2015 summer drought event in Southeast Brazil. Overall, results show that local emission sources significantly impact air pollution loading and its diurnal variability, particularly in the case of primary pollutants. Climate modulates the seasonal concentration variability, and regional scale weather phenomena may impact air quality conditions. To reach concentration standards everywhere, policy makers must be aware of processes occurring in different spatial scales that determine air quality.
Highlights
Megacities worldwide concentrate intense economic activity, high population density and high emission of air pollutants, with impacts to human health, climate and environment (Parrish and Zhu, 2009; Gurjar et al, 2010)
According to CETESB (2016b), in 2015, carbon monoxide (CO) in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) was mostly emitted by light duty vehicles and motorcycles (94%), while PM10, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and SO2 had a significant contribution of heavy duty vehicle emissions
Even though Mauá and Capuava are located in the vicinity of petrochemical plants, the observed PM10 concentrations there were significantly smaller in comparison to São Caetano do Sul
Summary
Megacities worldwide concentrate intense economic activity, high population density and high emission of air pollutants, with impacts to human health, climate and environment (Parrish and Zhu, 2009; Gurjar et al, 2010). The southeastern winds can transport region atmospheric pollutants produced at coastal cities (such as Cubatão and Baixada Santista), marine emissions and biogenic emissions from Mata Atlântica rainforest fragments (Carvalho et al, 2012; Ribeiro et al, 2018) to the ABC. Occasionally, the preferred wind direction suffers an inversion, in a way that atmospheric emissions from agricultural areas at northwest São Paulo state may be transported to the MASP, and, to the ABC region (Sánchez-Ccoyllo et al, 2005). These elements make the ABC region a unique location for the study of the dynamics of atmospheric pollutants, the contribution of various pollutants sources and the influence of meteorological conditions
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