Mapeamento da poluição atmosférica urbana por meio de sensores automáticos : uma proposta metodológica para avaliação e identificação de bacias atmosféricas, ilhas de poluição, bacias aéreas, bolsões de poluição e hotspots

Abstract

Data published by the WHO (2021) indicate that exposure of the global population to air pollutants causes around 7 million premature deaths and results in the loss of millions of years of life. In children, this can include reduced growth and lung function, and serious respiratory infections such as asthma and bronchitis. In adults, ischemic heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death attributable to air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of other effects, such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Around 98% of urban areas in the world with a population greater than 100,000 inhabitants, especially in low- and middle-income countries per capita, do not meet WHO guidelines for PM2.5, a percentage that is expected to be even higher after more restrictive reference values have been recommended (WHO, 2021). By treating the city as an organic space, in constant movement and production, it is possible to understand that it promotes an accumulation of social and environmental phenomena that are often difficult to discretize (complex systems), which manifest themselves in space and directly influence the health conditions and quality of life of the population. As with the hypothesis to be tested in this thesis, it is possible that the circulation of vehicles in large cities, especially in areas with greater concentration of traffic/traffic jams and architecture, is favorable to the maintenance of “atmospheric basins”, “pollution islands” or “air basins”, concepts that are still little explored or tested in practice (field). The city of Belo Horizonte, MG, was selected as the geographic location, since it has typical urban spatial characteristics for conducting field research through direct monitoring of air quality, using automatic and mobile air quality stations. The final data from the research showed that there is a very significant difference in air quality in Belo Horizonte during the dry season (winter) and the summer (rainy season). Finally, it was possible to observe that the air quality in Belo Horizonte, during the winter, has a greater geographical distribution, characterized as a thick layer of pollution over a large part of the metropolitan region and, in a certain way, homogenizing the pollution over the territory, unlike the summer which has another type of spatial configuration.