GAW Report No. 205 - IGAC Project

CHAPTER 4 - SOUTH AMERICACoordinating Author: Laura Gallardo (1)Contributing Authors: Marcelo Alonso (2) , María de F. Andrade (3) , Vanessa Silveira Barreto Carvalho (3) , EduardoBehrentz (4) , Pérola de Castro Vasconcellos (5) , Ariela D’Angiola (6) , Laura Dawidowski (7) , Saulo Freitas (2) , Darío Gómez (7) ,Karla M. Longo (2) , Leila Doprichinski Martins (8) , Marcelo Mena (9) , Patricia Matus (10) , Axel Osses (11) , Mauricio Osses (12) ,Néstor Rojas (13) , Pablo Saide (14) , Odón Sánchez-Ccoyllo (15) , María V. Toro (16)(1)Departamento de Geofísica & Centro de Modelamiento Matemático, Universidad de Chile. Blanco Encalada2002, piso 4, Santiago, Chile(2)Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Rod.Presidente Dutra, km 40, 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil(3)Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences,University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 1226, 05508-090 São Paulo, Brazil(4)Grupo de Estudios en Sostenibilidad Urbana y Regional, Universidad de los Andes Carrera 1 Este # 19 A - 40,Bogotá, Colombia.(5)Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 748 São Paulo, Brazil(6)Laboratoire Atmosphère, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), 4 PlaceJussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France(7)Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Gerencia Química, Av. Gral. Paz 1499 (B1650KNA), San Martín, Pcia.de Buenos Aires, Argentina(8)Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, UTFPR, Marcílio Dias 635, l, 86812-460 Apucarana, PR, Brazil(9)Facultad de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile(10)Salud Pública Facultad de Medicina Clínica Alemana- Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile(11)Departamento de Ingeniería Matemática & Centro de Modelamiento Matemático, Universidad de Chile. BlancoEncalada 2002, piso 4, Santiago, Chile(12)Sistemas Sustentables, Santa Magdalena 75, Of 311, Santiago, Chile & International Sustainable SystemsResearch Center, ISSRC, 605 South Palm Street, Suite C, La Habra, CA 90631, USA(13)Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Carrera 45 26-85Ed 412 Of 206. 111321 Bogotá, Colombia(14)Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA(15)Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú, Jr. Cahuide 785 Jesús María, Lima11 – Perú(16)Grupo de Investigaciones Ambientales, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana Bloque 11 Circular 1 No.70-01,Medellín, Colombia4.1 OVERVIEWAir pollution is a reoccurring phenomenon in many South American cities. Like in manycities around the world, population growth and urbanization result in a convergence of a variety ofair pollutant emission drivers such at industry, transportation, and energy production andconsumption amongst others. This convergence, however, is rather extreme in South Americawhere about 84% of the population today lives in mid- to large size cities (larger than 750 kinhabitants) [UNPOP, 2009]. The emptiness of the South American continent is also striking, ascities, and population densities, are mainly located close to coastal areas or a few hundreds ofkilometres in land (Figure 1). Although the rate of growth in larger cities of more than 5 millioninhabitants has decreased over the last decades (from an average of 3%/yr between 1975 and1990 to 2% between 1995 and 2010), the growth rate is still enough to ensure the proclivity ofthese agglomerations to concentrate pollution drivers and hence face environmental problems.Moreover, mid-size cities (2% growth per yearbetween 2005 and 2010).Oftentimes, South America is referred to as a homogeneous entity, possibly due to ourcommon historic background in connection to the European “conquest” of the territories. However,if one wants to assert global change drivers in the region, one must deal with the actualheterogeneity of South America’s physical and human geography. Our economies and politicalsystems vary giving rise to diversity in our policies. Table 1 shows relevant population, economic,141