January 9-12, 2012
RATIONALE
Urbanization and population concentration are
outstanding phenomena in South America. About 83% of the 530 million South
Americans live already in large coastal or near coastal cities (> 750 k
inhabitants), many of which are heavily polluted. Hereto, environmental
authorities in these cities have invested substantial resources in air quality
monitoring networks. Collected data are increasingly available for public and
scientific scrutiny over the Internet. However, calibration and quality control
procedures vary greatly among different cities and along time in a given city
limiting at times the usefulness of the data both for policy and scientific
purposes. Moreover, costly instruments and analytical facilities are too often
underexploited due to lack of coordination, including appropriate calibration,
and local know-how.
The Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) program of the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) in collaboration with local institutions has
driven over the last two decades a number of background stations addressing
changes in atmospheric composition and climate. Only a fraction of these data
are analyzed. Nowadays there is an overwhelming amount of satellite data that
can yield quantitative results regarding air quality and climate change. To fully
realize these data local expertise and observations are crucially needed but
local communities are generally disconnected from global ones.
We have organized
a workshop in January 9-12 2012, involving leading scientists and local policy
makers to evaluate the present situation and act towards the design of an
integrated observing system to assess and forecast air quality in and around
growing South American urban centers. This activity marks the closure of a five
year project sponsored by the Inter American Institute on Global Change
Research that tackled South American Emissions Megacities and Climate (SAEMC, CRN 2017). It is also a regional activity promoted and sponsored by the
international Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (iCACGP),
and by the World Meteorological Organization, Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW)
Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME).