Lineamientos para la gestión del riesgo ante la ocurrencia de episodios excepcionales de contaminación atmosférica en la Ciudad de Bogotá y Municipios del Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá (Colombia)

Abstract

Currently in Colombia, the increase in reports of air pollution episodes has been concentrated in areas of the country with high demographic densities, affecting the quality of life of millions of people. For this reason, it is necessary to study the information for monitoring the state of air quality through tools that involve meteorological, local and / or synoptic factors. In the present work, an analysis of the cases of prevention, alert and emergency was carried out in two case studies: District Secretary of Environment and Metropolitan Area of Aburrá Valley for PM2.5 concentrations, followed by the analysis of meteorological information, atmospheric stability and the study of the fires and trajectory of the air masses, ending with the comparison of NowCast and InstantCast methodologies with the Colombian methodology. As a result, it was obtained that AMVA was the case study most affected by presenting daily concentrations that exceeded 50.0 μg/m3. A correlation was also found between PM2.5 and wind direction for SDA (r = 0,611) and wind speed for AMVA (r = -0,456). In addition, in the morning hours, atmospheric stability favored the increase in PM2.5 concentrations, which registered values that reached 70 μg/m3 in both study cases and that the fires sent to the east and north of the country influenced the air quality of the city of Bogotá and municipalities of the AMVA, respectively. By comparing the research methodologies with the methodology contemplated in Resolution 2254 of 2017, it was determined, that NowCast generated early alerts leading to timely attention to episodes and that InstantCast registered the episodes with the highest concentrations of PM2.5. According to the results obtained, it was concluded that the factors studied here are fundamental for an episode of air pollution to be generated or not. It is necessary to include air pollution in risk scenarios through guidelines that include meteorological analyzes and retrospective studies that recognize times of the year in which the episodes are recurrent in order to strengthen the analysis, evaluation, and development of action measures in the event of episodes of high PM2.5 concentrations that affect the socioeconomic environment and natural.