Abstract
Most of the world’s population lives in rural areas or small to medium-sized cities (totalling 68% of the world population), all of which are impacted by distant air pollution sources. In Brazil, primary pollutant emissions have decreased in urban centres because of government actions, while secondary pollutants such as surface ozone (O3) increased. In addition, O3 and its precursors can be worsening air quality in areas already affected by biofuels production, especially ethanol. We provide almost 3 months of hourly data (June 7, 2019 to August 25, 2019) for concentrations of O3, CO2 and other priority pollutants from a mobile station positioned to distinguish among pollutant plumes (biomass burning, metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP) and other cities). Although the concentrations of O3 and CO2 were highest in the plumes from biomass burning, the MASP accounted for up to 80% of the O3 concentration in communities over 200 km away.
Highlights
High surface ozone (O3) concentrations pose a serious concern for modern societies because they have been associated with deleterious effects on human health[1,2], damage to crops[3,4] and climate change[5,6]
Brazil is the second largest ethanol producer in the world[11], and the state of São Paulo accounts for 55% of the sugarcane production in the country[12], sugarcane occupying 70% of the land devoted to agriculture in the state (Fig. 1)
One limitation of previous studies is the paucity of data for rural areas, which hinders the evaluation of the distribution of air pollutants, especially O3, on a regional scale
Summary
High surface ozone (O3) concentrations pose a serious concern for modern societies because they have been associated with deleterious effects on human health[1,2], damage to crops[3,4] and climate change[5,6]. Reversing the impacts of anthropogenic air pollution demands actions aimed at reducing dependency on fossil fuel in the transport, industry and energy sectors[7,8]. As a result of attempts to reduce that dependency, limit emissions of greenhouse gases and lower ambient concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, the global consumption of biofuels, such as ethanol, has doubled in the last two decades[9]. The rural regions of the state play an important role in improving air quality in the large urban centres by providing cleaner fuels. Rural areas may be affected by pollution from biofuel production, as well as receiving air pollutants by regional transport from urban centres. Without sufficient air pollutant monitoring data, the important role that the transition from fossil fuel to biofuels can play in mitigating the impacts on climate and health cannot be fully understood. One limitation of previous studies is the paucity of data for rural areas, which hinders the evaluation of the distribution of air pollutants, especially O3, on a regional scale
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