Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Particulate Material Concentrations in Bogota: A Year of Operation of an Independent Network

The present study reports the behavior of particulate material smaller than 10 and 2.5 micrometers in the city of Bogota, during a period of one year, between March 2018 and April 2019. In this first phase of the project, a spatial and temporal analysis of the behavior of PM10 and PM2.5 and the relationship between these two fractions was developed. Additionally, meteorological data were recorded in the sampling stations, which allowed the analysis of the origin of the pollutants and included relevant atypical events, such as the alerts for air pollution, day without car and environmental vehicular restriction measures. In general, higher concentrations of PM are observed in the southern and western areas of the city, with PM2.5/PM10 ratios close to unity, which may indicate a considerable contribution of fine material from combustion activities. In certain periods of time, this ratio decreases to 0.5, which could also suggest a contribution of resuspension activities, especially to the gross fraction PM10. During the first months of 2019, concentrations were observed above the permitted levels, in some cases throughout the urban perimeter, which could infer regional pollution phenomena such as biomass burning and marine aerosoltransported over long distances. In the second phase of the project, we will have the chemical characterization of the PM, which will allow the confirmation of hypotheses about the origin of the particulate material in Bogota, especially in the most affected areas of the south-west and in the periods of environmental contingency. Based on these results, actions to control and mitigate air pollution can be offered