Transboundary transport of biomass burning aerosols and photochemical pollution in the Orinoco River Basin

Hernandez, Andrea J.; Morales-Rincon, Luis A.; Wu, Dien; Mallia, Derek V.; Lin, John C.; Jiménez, Rodrigo

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.01.051

Cited by 31 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The comparison between the days of high and low fire activity ( Table 4 ) shows that the increase in background concentrations associated with BB was as high as 20 μg/m 3 of PM 10 in Bogotá and 19 μg/m 3 of PM 10 in Medellín. The impact of BB on air quality has been identified in previous studies, especially in the first quarter of the year ( Mendez-Espinosa et al, 2019 ; Hernandez et al, 2019 ; Rincón-Riveros et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Air quality variations in Northern South America during the COVID-19 lockdown

Méndez-Espinosa

Rojas

Vargas

et al. 2020

Science of The Total Environment

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Lockdown measures led to air pollution decrease in several countries around the world such as China and India, whereas other regions experimented an increase in pollutant concentrations. Northern South America (NSA) was one of those areas where pollution changed during lockdown due to high fire activity. This study aims to analyze, for the first time in NSA, the behavior of selected criteria air pollutants during the implementation of the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown in two high populated cities of the region: Bogotá and Medellín in Colombia. A set of tools including surface measurements, as well as satellite and modeled data were used. 24-hour average concentrations of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and NO 2 were collected from air quality stations for the lockdown period ranging from February 21 to June 30, 2020. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) was used to analyze the fire flux OC as a biomass burning (BB) indicator, and tropospheric NO 2 concentrations were retrieved from TROPOMI. The HYSPLIT model was used to analyze back trajectories and fire data were obtained from MODIS sensor measurements. Our analysis shows short-term background NO 2 , PM 10 , and PM 2.5 concentration reductions of 60%, 44%, and 40%, respectively, for the strict lockdown; and 62%, 58%, and 69% for the relaxed lockdown. Corresponding long-term reductions were of 50%, 32%, and 9% for the strict lockdown; and 37%, 29%, and 19% for the relaxed lockdown. Regional BB increased PM 2.5 concentrations by 20 μg/m 3 during the strict lockdown, and the Saharan dust event increased PM 10 concentrations up to 168 μg/m 3 in Bogotá, and 104 μg/m 3 in Medellín, bringing an additional risk of morbidity and mortality for population. Regional BB has several causes that need to be properly managed to benefit local air quality improvement plans. Future cleaner transport policies equivalent to reduced lockdown mobility could bring pollution close to WHO guidelines.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Air quality variations in Northern South America during the COVID-19 lockdown

Méndez-Espinosa

Rojas

Vargas

et al. 2020

Science of The Total Environment

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“…The impacts of BB on air quality has been evaluated in several South American countries such as Colombia (Mendez-Espinosa et al, 2019;Hernandez et al, 2019;Rincón-Riveros et al, 2020),…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every year, 1,355 tons of PM10 are emitted every month by BB in the ORIB, mostly during the dry season (Hernandez et al, 2019). These fires typically take place between December and May (Hamburger et al, 2013), with the highest fire activity observed between January and February for Colombia, and from January to May in Venezuela (Hernandez et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Negative Impact of Biomass Burning and the Orinoco Low-Level Jet on the Air Quality of the Orinoco River Basin

Rodríguez-Gómez

Echeverry

Jaramillo

et al. 2021

ATM

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Biomass burning (BB) is a common activity in developing countries and has been identified as a serious air pollution threat. The present work evaluates the air quality of the largest town in the extensive Colombian savannas (250,000 km2) for the first time, from measurements over three consecutive years (2017-2020). Although the air quality in Villavicencio is good in terms of PM10 and O3 for most of the year, the pollution levels for both pollutants exceed the World Health Organization recommended limits during the dry season (February to April). The combination of the Orinoco low-level jet (OLLJ) with the BB emissions from the Venezuelan and the Colombian savannas was identified as the main cause of the poor air quality episodes during the dry season in this city. Organic carbon derived from reanalysis was identified as the main component of the high PM10 concentrations during the dry season. However, mineral dust and sea salt particles were also found to play an important role in the poor air quality observed in Villavicencio and likely along the Orinoco river basin region. Finally, between November and March, the OLLJ was found to be an efficient mechanism for the transport of air pollutants from the Atlantic Ocean and the savannas regions in the Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela and Colombia towards southern regions of Colombia, and in some cases, Ecuador.

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“…The measurements were carried out at the Monserrate site during the 3-year period from May 2016 to April 2019. Data were logged every 60 s. The sampling rate was 2 L min −1 through a PM 1.0 inlet (BGI model SCC0.732) to avoid potential mineral dust absorption interference on the measurements since most of the fresh or aged BB aerosol particles are in the sub-micrometer size range (Janhäll et al, 2010). The b abs raw data were corrected to account for filter loading effects (Virkkula et al, 2007).…”

Section: Brc and Bc Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term brown carbon and smoke tracer observations in Bogotá, Colombia: association with medium-range transport of biomass burning plumes

et al. 2020

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Abstract. Light-absorbing aerosols emitted during open biomass burning (BB) events such as wildfires and agricultural burns have a strong impact on the Earth's radiation budget through both direct and indirect effects. Additionally, BB aerosols and gas-phase emissions can substantially reduce air quality at local, regional, and global scales, negatively affecting human health. South America is one of largest contributors to BB emissions globally. After Amazonia, the BB emissions from wildfires and agricultural burns in the grassland plains of northern South America (NSA) are the most significant in the region. However, few studies have analyzed the potential impact of NSA BB emissions on regional air quality. Recent evidence suggests that seasonal variations in air quality in several major cities in NSA could be associated with open biomass burning emissions, but it is still uncertain to what extent those sources impact air quality in the region. In this work, we report on 3 years of continuous equivalent black carbon (eBC) and brown carbon (BrC) observations at a hilltop site located upwind of the city of Bogotá, and we demonstrate its association with fires detected by the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in a 3000 km × 2000 km domain. Offline PM2.5 filter samples collected during three field campaigns were analyzed to quantify water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic and elemental carbon (OC∕EC), and biomass burning tracers such as levoglucosan, galactosan, and potassium. MODIS active fire data and HYSPLIT back trajectories were used to identify potential biomass burning plumes transported to the city. We analyzed the relationship between BrC, WSOC, water-soluble potassium, and levoglucosan to identify signals of the regional transport of BB aerosols. Our results confirm that regional biomass burning transport from wildfires occurs annually during the months of January and April. The seasonality of eBC closely followed that of PM2.5 at the city air quality stations; however, the observed seasonality of BrC is distinctly different to that of eBC and strongly associated with regional fire counts. The strong correlation between BrC and regional fire counts was observed at daily, weekly, and monthly timescales. WSOC at the measurement site was observed to increase linearly with levoglucosan during high BB periods and to remain constant at ∼2.5 µgC m−3 during the low BB seasons. Our findings show, for the first time in this region, that aged BB plumes can regularly reach densely populated areas in the Central Andes of northern South America. A source footprint analysis involving BrC observations, back trajectories, and remotely sensed fire activity shows that the eastern savannas in NSA are the main BB source region for the domain analyzed.

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Transboundary transport of biomass burning aerosols and photochemical pollution in the Orinoco River Basin

Cited by 31 publications

References 34 publications

Air quality variations in Northern South America during the COVID-19 lockdown

Air quality variations in Northern South America during the COVID-19 lockdown

The Negative Impact of Biomass Burning and the Orinoco Low-Level Jet on the Air Quality of the Orinoco River Basin

Long-term brown carbon and smoke tracer observations in Bogotá, Colombia: association with medium-range transport of biomass burning plumes

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