Grupo de Biodiversidad Medio Ambiente Y Salud (BIOMAS), Universidad de Las Américas, Calle José Queri y Av. de Los Granados/Bloque 7, Quito, EC, 170125, Ecuador.
Intelligent and Interactive Systems Lab (SI2 Lab) Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Quito, Ecuador.
Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 12;10(1):17049. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72541-2.
Particulate matter (PM) is one of the key pollutants causing health risks worldwide. While the preoccupation for increased concentrations of these particles mainly depends on their sources and thus chemical composition, some regions are yet not well investigated. In this work the composition of chemical elements of atmospheric PM (particles with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 10 µm), collected at the urban and suburban sites in high elevation tropical city, were chemically analysed during the dry and wet seasons of 2017-2018. A large fraction (~ 68%) of PM composition in Quito, Ecuador is accounted for by water-soluble ions and 16 elements analysed using UV/VIS spectrophotometer and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Hierarchical clustering analysis was performed to study a correlation between the chemical composition of urban pollution and meteorological parameters. The suburban area displays an increase in PM concentrations and natural elemental markers during the dry (increased wind intensity, resuspension of soil dust) season. Meanwhile, densely urbanized area shows increased total PM concentrations and anthropogenic elemental markers during the wet season, which may point to the worsened combustion and traffic conditions. This might indicate the prevalence of cardiovascular and respiratory problems in motorized areas of the cities in the developing world.
颗粒物(PM)是造成全球健康风险的主要污染物之一。虽然人们对这些颗粒浓度的增加主要关注于其来源和因此的化学成分,但有些地区的情况还没有得到很好的研究。在这项工作中,在 2017 年至 2018 年的干湿两季,在厄瓜多尔基多的城市和郊区地点收集了大气 PM(空气动力学直径≤10µm 的颗粒)的化学元素组成,并进行了化学分析。厄瓜多尔基多的 PM 组成中有很大一部分(约 68%)是水溶性离子和使用紫外/可见分光光度计和电感耦合等离子体 - 光学发射光谱法(ICP-OES)分析的 16 种元素。采用层次聚类分析研究城市污染的化学成分与气象参数之间的相关性。在干旱(增加的风速、土壤尘埃的再悬浮)季节,郊区地区的 PM 浓度和自然元素标志物增加。而在雨季,人口密集的城区显示出总 PM 浓度和人为元素标志物的增加,这可能表明燃烧和交通条件恶化。这可能表明在发展中国家的城市机动化地区,心血管和呼吸道问题更为普遍。