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Particulate matter levels in a South American megacity: the metropolitan area of Lima-Callao, Peru

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Abstract

The temporal and spatial trends in the variability of PM10 and PM2.5 from 2010 to 2015 in the metropolitan area of Lima-Callao, Peru, are studied and interpreted in this work. The mean annual concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 have ranges (averages) of 133–45 μg m−3 (84 μg m−3) and 35–16 μg m−3 (26 μg m−3) for the monitoring sites under study. In general, the highest annual concentrations are observed in the eastern part of the city, which is a result of the pattern of persistent local winds entering from the coast in a south-southwest direction. Seasonal fluctuations in the particulate matter (PM) concentrations are observed; these can be explained by subsidence thermal inversion. There is also a daytime pattern that corresponds to the peak traffic of a total of 9 million trips a day. The PM2.5 value is approximately 40% of the PM10 value. This proportion can be explained by PM10 re-suspension due to weather conditions. The long-term trends based on the Theil-Sen estimator reveal decreasing PM10 concentrations on the order of −4.3 and −5.3% year−1 at two stations. For the other stations, no significant trend is observed. The metropolitan area of Lima-Callao is ranked 12th and 16th in terms of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, out of 39 megacities. The annual World Health Organization thresholds and national air quality standards are exceeded. A large fraction of the Lima population is exposed to PM concentrations that exceed protection thresholds. Hence, the development of pollution control and reduction measures is paramount.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the financial support of the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru–SENAMHI-Perú, for project SNIP N° 199842 “Expansion and Improvement of the Monitoring Network for the Forecasting of Air Quality in the Metropolitan Area of Lima” and Program 096—PPR096-Air Quality Management. MALG acknowledges the support of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research CONICYT/FONDECYT 2016 grant no. 1160617. RAT acknowledges the partial support of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research CONICYT/FONDECYT INICIACION 2015 grant no. 11150931. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, and decision to publish or the preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Meteorology and Hydrology Service, Jr. Cahuide 785, Jesús María, Lima, Peru

    Jose Silva, Jhojan Rojas & Magdalena Norabuena

  2. Center for Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago, 7800003, Chile

    Carolina Molina, Richard A. Toro & Manuel A. Leiva-Guzmán

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  1. Jose Silva
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  2. Jhojan Rojas
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Correspondence to Manuel A. Leiva-Guzmán.

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Silva, J., Rojas, J., Norabuena, M. et al. Particulate matter levels in a South American megacity: the metropolitan area of Lima-Callao, Peru. Environ Monit Assess 189, 635 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6327-2

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