Soccer games and record-breaking PM&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2.5&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt;  pollution events in Santiago, Chile

Lapere, Rémy; Menut, Laurent; Mailler, Sylvain; Huneeus, Nicolás

doi:10.5194/acp-20-4681-2020

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Urbanized areas in Europe (Vardoulakis and Kassomenos, 2008) and South America (Resquin et al, 2018) usually feature a marked contribution of long-range transport to measured concentrations of particulate matter within urban basins. For Santiago, an example can be found in the wildfires occurring frequently in summertime in central Chile, explaining sporadic peaks of particulate matter and ozone in the city, although the sources are found more in the south (Rubio et al, 2015;de la Barrera et al, 2018;Lapere et al, 2021a). In this case, pollutants are not directly of anthropogenic origin, which is out of the scope of the present work and, therefore, ignored throughout this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Seasonal variation in atmospheric pollutants transport in central Chile: dynamics and consequences

Lapere¹,

Menut²,

Mailler³

et al. 2021

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Central Chile faces atmospheric pollution issues all year long as a result of elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter during the cold months and tropospheric ozone during the warm season. In addition to public health issues, environmental problems regarding vegetation growth and water supply, as well as meteorological feedback, are at stake. Sharp spatial gradients in regional emissions, along with a complex geographical situation, make for variable and heterogeneous dynamics in the localization and long-range transport of pollutants, with seasonal differences. Based on chemistry–transport modeling with Weather Research Forecasting (WRF)–CHIMERE, this work studies the following for one winter period and one summer period: (i) the contribution of emissions from the city of Santiago to air pollution in central Chile, and (ii) the reciprocal contribution of regional pollutants transported into the Santiago basin. The underlying 3-dimensional advection patterns are investigated. We find that, on average for the winter period, 5 to 10 µg m−3 of fine particulate matter in Santiago come from regional transport, corresponding to between 13 % and 15 % of average concentrations. In turn, emissions from Santiago contribute between 5 % and 10 % of fine particulate matter pollution as far as 500 km to the north and 500 km to the south. Wintertime transport occurs mostly close to the surface. In summertime, exported precursors from Santiago, in combination with mountain–valley circulation dynamics, are found to account for most of the ozone formation in the adjacent Andes cordillera and to create a persistent plume of ozone of more than 50 ppb (parts per billion), extending along 80 km horizontally and 1.5 km vertically, and located slightly north of Santiago, several hundred meters above the ground. This work constitutes the first description of the mechanism underlying the latter phenomenon. Emissions of precursors from the capital city also affect daily maxima of surface ozone hundreds of kilometers away. In parallel, cutting emissions of precursors in the Santiago basin results in an increase in surface ozone mixing ratios in its western area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Seasonal variation in atmospheric pollutants transport in central Chile: dynamics and consequences

Lapere¹,

Menut²,

Mailler³

et al. 2021

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…Glaciers in Chile have been shrinking over the recent decades, in particular in the Central Chilean Andes (32 • S to 36 • S) where large glaciers feed valleys rich in agriculture and large populated centers such as Santiago, Chile's capital (Pellicciotti et al, 2013). Although the role of anthropogenic black sive emissions from wood burning for residential heating and diesel-fueled vehicles (Barraza et al, 2017), but also to episodic strong emissions from barbecue cooking (Lapere et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways for wintertime deposition of anthropogenic light-absorbing particles on the Central Andes cryosphere

Lapere

Mailler

Menut

et al. 2021

Environmental Pollution

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Ice and snow in the Central Andes contain significant amounts of light-absorbing particles such as black carbon. The consequent accelerated melting of the cryosphere is not only a threat from a climate perspective but also for water resources and snow-dependent species and activities, worsened by the mega-drought affecting the region since the last decade. Given its proximity to the Andes, emissions from the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile, are believed to be among the main contributors to deposition on glaciers. However, no evidence backs such an assertion, especially given the usually subsident and stable conditions in wintertime, when the snowpack is at its maximum extent. Based on high-resolution chemistry-transport modeling with WRF-CHIMERE, the present work shows that, for the month of June 2015, up to 40% of black carbon dry deposition on snow or ice covered areas in the Central Andes downwind from the Metropolitan area can be attributed to emissions from Santiago. Through the analysis of aerosol tracers we determine (i) that the areas of the Metropolitan Area where emissions matter most when it comes to export towards glaciers are located in Eastern Santiago near the foothills of the Andes, (ii) the crucial role of the network of Andean valleys that channels pollutants up to remote locations near glaciers, following gentle slopes. A direct corollary is that severe urban pollution, and deposition of impurities on the Andes, are anti-correlated phenomena. Finally, a two-variable meteorological index is developed that accounts for the dynamics of aerosol export towards the Andes, based on the zonal wind speed over the urban area, and the vertical diffusion coefficient in the valleys close to ice and snow covered terrain. Numerous large urban areas are found along the Andes so that the processes studied here can shed light on similar investigations for other glaciers-dependent Andean regions.

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“…Later on, a module for the simulation of particulate matter (Pun and Seigneur, 2007;Bessagnet et al, 2008) was added to the model. The model is currently used extensively in air quality monitoring and forecasts for both research and operative purposes at regional and hemispheric levels (Cholakian et al, 2019b;Lachatre et al, 2019;Trewhela et al, 2019;Lapere et al, 2020). It has also been used in many model intercomparison studies, as well as model-observation comparisons within multi-model experiments, for example to investigate European particulate matter trends (Ciarelli et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Chimere Chemistry Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of organic aerosol, its precursors, and related oxidants in the Landes pine forest in southwestern France: accounting for domain-specific land use and physical conditions

et al. 2023

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Abstract. Organic aerosol (OA) still remains one of the most difficult components of the atmospheric aerosols to simulate, given the multitude of its precursors, the uncertainty in its formation pathways, and the lack of measurements of its detailed composition. The LANDEX (LANDes Experiment) project, during its intensive field campaign in summer 2017, gives us the opportunity to compare biogenic secondary OA (BSOA) and its precursors and oxidants obtained within and above the Landes forest canopy to simulations performed with CHIMERE, a state-of-the-art regional chemistry transport model. The Landes forest is situated in the southwestern part of France and is one of the largest anthropized forests in Europe (1×106 ha). The majority of the forest is comprised of maritime pine trees, which are strong terpenoid emitters, providing a large potential for BSOA formation. In order to simulate OA buildup in this area, a specific model configuration setup adapted to the local peculiarities was necessary. As the forest is nonhomogeneous, with interstitial agricultural fields, high-resolution 1 km simulations over the forest area were performed. Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions were predicted by MEGAN, but specific land cover information needed to be used and was thus chosen from the comparison of several high-resolution land cover databases. Moreover, the tree species distribution needed to be updated for the specific conditions of the Landes forest. In order to understand the canopy effect in the forest, canopy effects on vertical diffusivity, winds, and radiation were implemented in the model in a simplified way. The refined simulations show a redistribution of BVOCs with a decrease in isoprene and an increase in terpenoid emissions with respect to the standard case, both of which are in line with observations. Corresponding changes to simulated BSOA sources are tracked. Very low nighttime ozone, sometimes near zero, remains overestimated in all simulations. This has implications for the nighttime oxidant budget, including NO3. Despite careful treatment of physical conditions, simulated BSOA is overestimated in the most refined simulation. Simulations are also compared to air quality sites surrounding the Landes forest, reporting a more realistic simulation in these stations in the most refined test case. Finally, the importance of the sea breeze system, which also impacts species concentrations inside the forest, is made evident.

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Soccer games and record-breaking PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution events in Santiago, Chile

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

Seasonal variation in atmospheric pollutants transport in central Chile: dynamics and consequences

Seasonal variation in atmospheric pollutants transport in central Chile: dynamics and consequences

Pathways for wintertime deposition of anthropogenic light-absorbing particles on the Central Andes cryosphere

Simulation of organic aerosol, its precursors, and related oxidants in the Landes pine forest in southwestern France: accounting for domain-specific land use and physical conditions

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