Air pollution impact on solar radiation transfer

ADRIANA IPIÑA; GAMALIEL LÓPEZ-PADILLA; RUBÉN PIACENTINI; SASHA MADRONICH

Ciudad de México

Encuentro; Taller Diagnóstico sobre el Conocimiento Actual de las Bases Científicas para la Gestión de la Calidad del Aire en la Región de la Megalópolis (CAMe); 2022

Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2) y la CAMe

Tropical regions experience naturally high levels of UV radiation, but urban pollution can reduce these levels substantially. We analyzed 20 years of measurements of the UV index (UVI) at several ground-level locations in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area and compared these data with the UVI values derived from the satellite observations of ozone and clouds (but not local pollution). The ground-based measurements were systematically lower than the satellite-based estimates by ca. 40% in 2000 and 25% in 2019. Calculations with a radiative transfer model using observed concentrations of air pollutants explained well the difference between satellite and ground-based UVI and showed specific contributions from aerosols, O3 , NO2 , and SO2 in decreasing order of importance. Such large changes in UV radiation between 2000 and 2019 have important implications ranging from human health (skin cancer and cataract induction) to air pollution control (photochemical smog formation).