Análisis de la calidad del aire de la ciudad de Cuenca durante el año 2022 basadas en la red de microsensores a escala urbana

Abstract

Population growth in urban areas has caused the deterioration of air quality, affecting the health of its inhabitants and the environment; consequently, the monitoring of air pollution is an important tool for its control. In this sense, the city of Cuenca - Ecuador, has implemented a monitoring network consisting of microsensors located on a neighboring scale and automatic analyzers on an urban scale. The study consisted of a descriptive and correlational analysis using the information obtained by the microsensors and automatic analyzers belonging to the Cuenca Monitoring Network during the year 2022. The analysis corresponds to air quality information from parameters such as MP10, MP2.5, CO, O3, NO2, and SO2 and from weather variables such as wind speed and wind direction. Furthermore, the observational analysis allowed to distinguish the behavior of the concentrations of indicated pollutants and their comparison with national regulations as well as with the recommendations given by the World Health Organization. The information was processed by various functions of the "Openair" package by means RStudio software, resulting in outcomes that served for the interpretation of air quality on a neighboring and urban scale. Additionally, a good correlation was determined between the values obtained by the CO and NO2 microsensors, and a good adjustment to a linear model was made for the O3 microsensor compared with values recorded from the automatic station. Finally, the present study allowed us to suggest possible emission sources and distinguish pollution patterns.