Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 22533
• Main Authors: Carabali, Giovanni, Villanueva-Macias, José, Ladino, Luis A, Álvarez-Ospina, Harry, Raga, Graciela B, Andraca-Ayala, Gema, Miranda, Javier, Grutter, Michel, Silva, Ma Montserrat, Riveros-Rosas, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 18.11.2021; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air quality; Air quality standards; Burning; Electron microscopy; Emissions; Irradiation; Optical analysis; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Plumes; Pollutants; Pollution; Pollution dispersion; Smoke; Urban areas; Wildfires; X-ray fluorescence; Mexico
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01873-4

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 PM levels ~ 2 times higher than the nation's air quality standards. Average PM concentrations increased sharply from 29.4 ± 7.2 µg m to 65.1 ± 13.6 µg m 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 (V ) 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.