Abstract ID: 547

An overview of local and trans-boundary pollution over South America .

The South American continent presents an extraordinary diversity regarding land use occupation, vegetation and soil coverage. As a consequence of the landscape variety, trace gases and aerosol emission sources are highly variable in space and time. Not only is the actual spatial emission pattern very complex but the time changes observed in the last decade have been immense. The biogenic emission determines the atmospheric chemistry in the Amazon basin, except during the dry season, when the biomass burning emissions change the atmospheric composition in a local and continental scale, with potential impact even in the global scale. In a continental scale, a large contrast exists between pristine and extremely polluted areas due mainly to the vegetation fires emission but also to urban/industrial sources. In a local scale, the South American mega-cities, such as São Paulo and Santiago de Chile, have been facing severe air pollution problems associated with vehicular and industrial pollutants sources like other mega-cities around the world. On the other hand, much smaller towns in the Amazon are highly affected by the smoke pollution, where the air quality index for tropospheric ozone and aerosol particles concentration can be even worse than those observed in polluted mega-cities. This presentation will discuss the potential health-economic-social impacts of the regional scale pollution associated with the fire activities and the other anthropogenic sources over South America.

Session:  Biogeochemistry - Sources, sinks, and atmospheric chemistry of trace gases.

Presentation Type:  Oral