Effect of Nearby Forest Fires on Ground Level Ozone Concentrations in Santiago, Chile

Atmosphere

Mar໚ A. Rubio¹  Eduardo Lissi¹  Ernesto Gramsch²  René D. Garreaud³ 

[1] Facultad de Quimica y Biologia, Universidad Santiago de Chile, USACH, Av. L. B. O’Higgins 3363, Santiago 9160000, Chile;Facultad de Ciencia, Depto Física, Universidad Santiago de Chile, USACH, Santiago 9160000, Chile;Center for Climate and Resilience Research and Department of Geophysics, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8320000, Chile;

关键词: forest fires;    urban ozone;    pollutants;    Santiago of Chile;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos6121838

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

On 4 and 8 January 2014, at the height of the austral summer, intense wildfires in forests and dry pastures occurred in the Melipilla sector, located about 70 km to the southwest of Santiago, the Chilean capital, affecting more than 6 million inhabitants. Low level winds transported the forest fire plume towards Santiago causing a striking decrease in visibility and a marked increase in the concentration of both primary (PM₁₀ and CO) and secondary (Ozone) pollutants in the urban atmosphere. In particular, ozone maximum concentrations in the Santiago basin reached hourly averages well above 80 ppb, the national air quality standard. This ozone increase took place at the three sampling sites considered in the present study. These large values can be explained in terms of high NOx concentrations and NO₂/NO ratios in biomass burning emissions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.