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Carabali G, Villanueva-Macias J, Ladino LA, Álvarez-Ospina H, Raga GB, Andraca-Ayala G, Miranda J, Grutter M, Silva MM, Riveros-Rosas D. Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22533. [PMID: 34795342 PMCID: PMC8602652 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01873-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
More than 7 thousand wildfires were recorded over Mexico in 2019, affecting almost 640 thousand hectares. Most of these fires occurred during the spring season generating dense smoke plumes, impacting urban areas in the central part of the Mexican plateau. From May 10 to 17, 2019, biomass burning (BB) plumes affected Mexico City (MC) and diffused across the basin, producing PM2.5 levels ~ 2 times higher than the nation's air quality standards. Average PM2.5 concentrations increased sharply from 29.4 ± 7.2 µg m−3 to 65.1 ± 13.6 µg m−3 when the dense smoke plumes were detected. The higher particle concentration impacted the aerosol optical depth (AOD) as values ~ 3 times greater than the annual mean (0.32 ± 0.12) were measured, which resulted in a 17% loss of global horizontal irradiation (GHI). Under these severe pollution conditions, the visibility (Va) was reduced by ~ 80%. The high incidence of strong absorbent particles, such as soot and tarballs was revealed through electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. These techniques show chemical similarities between MC aerosols and those from the high-altitude (~ 4010 m. a. g. l.) Altzomoni Atmospheric Observatory, evidencing a strong influence of the BB emissions, suggesting a regional transport of these pollutants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Carabali
- Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico.
| | - José Villanueva-Macias
- Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico.,Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Luis A Ladino
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Harry Álvarez-Ospina
- Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Graciela B Raga
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Gema Andraca-Ayala
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Javier Miranda
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Michel Grutter
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Ma Montserrat Silva
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
| | - David Riveros-Rosas
- Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
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