Validation of Various Air Quality Monitoring and Prediction Systems for a Semi-arid City

Abstract:

The city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, has shown constant growth in recent years. This growth brings with it environmental problems that impact on public health, such as bad air quality. As there is no adequate monitoring of it, there is no efficient way to alert high dust concentrations. This study focuses on determining the best system to issue alerts for high concentrations of particles suspended in the air (P.M10 and P.M.2.5.) Satellite information regarding air quality was used, such as that generated by images of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer sensor (MODIS), more specifically the product (MOD04_3k) for its higher resolution. Data of The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) that combines atmospheric models, satellite and ground observations to forecast air quality and, daily hourly data of P.M. 10 and P.M. 2.5 of a professional air quality station belonging to the "Red Universitaria de Observatorios Atmosfericos" (RUOA) and of stations equipped with low-cost dust sensors (pms5003) for air quality. The results show that throughout the monsoon season, characterized by rainstorms and strong winds, helps to disperse and deposit P.M. These can be re-suspended by anthropogenic activities in cold months where thermal inversion and low wind speed maintain a high concentration of P.M. inside the city. The low-cost sensor can detect oscillations in concentration throughout the day, but the values are much lower than those detected by the professional station, so calibration and validation are required before installation and use. These data, together with those generated by the CAMS model, could generate information to predict events of high concentration of P.M. development of early warning programs for the population.