AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN THE METROPOLITAN REGIONS OF THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Authors

  • Cássio Aurélio Suski Federal Institute of Santa Catarina
  • Dirceu Luis Herdies INPE
  • Bruna Cristine da Silva Fernandes USP
  • Eduardo José Menegotto USP
  • Sergio Machado Corrêa USP
  • Mariana Consiglio Kasemodel USP
  • Rafael Corrêa Gama de Oliveira UERJ
  • Luana Santamaria Basso Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
  • Simone Marilene Sievert da Costa INPE
  • Débora Souza Alvim USP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21170/geonorte.2025.V.16.N.53.366.393

Keywords:

Atmospheric pollution, Partial Blocking, State of Sao Paulo, COVID-19

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the air quality in the Metropolitan Regions of São Paulo (RMSP), Campinas (RMC), Vale do Paraíba (RMVP) and Baixada Santista (RMBS) during the partial lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were analyzed using the average of the months of April and May from 2017 to 2019 and compared with the same period in 2020. Data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) sensor, MERRA-2 reanalysis and data from the Qualar/CETESB system were used. The greatest differences in concentrations were found in the RMSP, with a decrease of up to 48.7% in the concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), 75.6% of nitrogen monoxide (NO), 69.6% of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and an increase of up to 20.5% of particulate matter up to 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and 26.1% of ozone (O3). In the RMC, a decrease of up to 51.6% of NO, 21% of NO2 and an increase of 19.3% of O3 were observed. The results achieved were compared with previous articles by other authors. This work presents recent data and uses updated software.

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Author Biographies

Cássio Aurélio Suski, Federal Institute of Santa Catarina

He holds a degree in Mechanical Production Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2001), a Master's degree (2004) and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from UFSC (2011) and a Post-Doctorate from the State University of Santa Catarina, UDESC in 2020. He participated in the management of the Instituto Federal Catarinense (IFC) as General Director and Administrative Director of the Ibirama Campus, as well as serving as Head of the Department of Teaching, Research and Extension of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Santa Catarina - Itajaí Campus. He is currently a Research Professor of the Technical Course in Mechanics, the Undergraduate Course in Electrical Engineering and the Postgraduate Program - Master's in Climate and Environment, is an institutional evaluator for INEP and a Signatory of the ODS Movement - Sustainable Development Goals. He has experience in the area of ​​Mechanical Production Engineering, with an emphasis on Materials Engineering, Business Administration and Risk Management, as well as in Educational Management and Equipment Development. He has ten years of experience with projects to adapt industrial complexes within the basic guidelines for the development of environmental management systems within companies through ISO 14001 certification, as well as working since 2017 on research projects to analyze greenhouse gases in the main sources of emissions related to Land Use Change and Forestry, Agriculture, Energy, Waste and Industrial Processes and Use of Products, highlighting work on mobile and stationary combustion sources. He also has experience in RDI with the development of prototypes, proposal of intellectual property and filing of patents, including technology transfer to the productive sector and is involved in several research projects to build inventories of greenhouse gases from road, air, rail and waterway modes, in addition to participating in studies of gases generated by composting and urban solid waste. in general, whether in landfills or in recycling processes. It also develops work measuring concentrations of pollutants CO, NO, NO2, O3, SO2, CO2, MP10 and MP2.5 from the QUALAR system of the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo (CETESB), reanalysis of Dust, Black Carbon (BC), Organic Carbon (OC) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) from MERRA-2, remote sensing AOD and FRP by MODIS; NO2, O3, CO2, CH4, SO2, HCHO and CHOCHO by OMI, CO by MOPITT and precipitation by GPCP, as well as modeling studies with the WRF-Chem Mesoscale model in order to analyze the meteorological-chemical transport of pollutant gases on a regional scale, with the inclusion of chemical schemes of aerosol and gas phase, derived from the emission and concentration of such pollutants. Studies of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) using WGS 1984 Datum images, Landsat 8 Satellite, OLI sensor (Operational Land Imager, bands 4 and 5) and Sentinel 2 satellite launched as part of the Copernicus Program of the European Space Agency, as well as the Earth Surface Temperature (TST) with Landsat 8 image, TIRS sensor (Thermal Infrared Sensor, band 10) with spatial resolution of 30 meters are also under development. He has supervised and is supervising several master's dissertations, with extensive experience in stricto sensu postgraduate program in the areas of technological development, global warming, greenhouse gases and extreme events, participates in a research group accredited by CNPQ to dedicate itself to the study of themes related to Climate and Environment.

Dirceu Luis Herdies, INPE

Full Researcher at CPTEC/INPE, permanent professor of the Master's/Doctorate course in Meteorology at INPE and of the Professional Master's degree in Climate and Environment at IFSC and level 1 researcher at CNPq. He completed his undergraduate degree in Physics from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in 1983, his master's degree in Meteorology from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in 1991 and his doctorate in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2002, with a sandwich internship at GSFC/NASA in 2000/2001. He completed his postdoctoral studies at NCEP/USA in 2005/2006, and at NASA/GSFC in 2010/2011. Visiting Researcher at the University of Maryland and NASA/GSFC. He was one of the founders and coordinator of the Data Assimilation Group, head of the Modeling and Development Division of CPTEC/INPE and Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Meteorology at INPE. He is Associate Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Meteorology (RBMET), the Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management (JATM) and Topic Editor of Geosciences (MDPI). He is a reviewer for several national and international journals. He is a member of the Organizing Committee of several national and international events, such as the WMO International Data Assimilation Symposium and the ATOVS/WMO and EPGMET. He is a member of several CNPq Research groups and leader of the High Impact Regional Modeling Group: Atmospheric, Chemical and Data Assimilation. He has published several articles in specialized journals and in Annals of National and International Events. He has participated in several research projects with national (CNPq, FAPESP, CAPES and FINEP) and international (NASA, NOAA, MPIC and IAI) funding, and is currently the leader of two Research Projects. He has supervised more than 25 Master's and Doctoral works in the areas of Numerical Modeling of the Atmosphere, Data Assimilation, Low-Level Jet (JBN), South Atlantic Convergence Zone (ZCAS), Aerosols and their Influence on the Climate of South America, especially in the Amazon.

Bruna Cristine da Silva Fernandes, USP

Has a high school diploma from the Federal Institute of São Paulo (2013)

Eduardo José Menegotto, USP

Professional Training at technical level in Aquaculture from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo, Brazil (2022)
Student at the University of São Paulo, Brazil

Sergio Machado Corrêa, USP

Full Professor at UERJ, working in the undergraduate course of Chemical Engineering and in the Doctorate in Environmental Engineering. He works in the area of ​​atmospheric chemistry, with a focus on volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases, involving monitoring of confined areas, fixed and mobile sources, urban atmosphere and remote areas, reaction chamber, modeling and simulation.

Mariana Consiglio Kasemodel, USP

She holds a degree in Environmental Engineering from the São Carlos School of Engineering at the University of São Paulo (2009), a master's degree in Organic and Biological Chemistry from the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo (2012), and a PhD in Environmental Geotechnics from the São Carlos School of Engineering at the University of São Paulo (2017). She is currently a professor at the Lorena School of Engineering (Department of Basic and Environmental Sciences) at the University of São Paulo and vice-coordinator of the Environmental Engineering course. She has experience in the area of ​​Geosciences, with an emphasis on Environmental Geotechnics, working mainly on the following topics: contamination, potentially toxic metals, mining waste, and assessment of areas degraded by contamination.

Rafael Corrêa Gama de Oliveira, UERJ

Graduated in Production Engineering (chemical quality) from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (2009). He has experience in Production Engineering, with an emphasis on Planning, Design and Control of Production Systems. Master in Chemical Engineering from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ - 2013), in the research area on atmospheric pollution, air quality, modeling and simulation. PhD in Environmental Engineering in the Postgraduate Program in Environmental Engineering at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), from the Faculty of Engineering (FEN UERJ-2022), through tropospheric ozone forecast models in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, using missing data imputation and machine learning techniques. He worked at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) - Cachoeira Paulista- SP, in the modeling and simulation division (DMD). He is currently a Professor at the Dom Bosco Educational Association (AEDB) and Faculty of Technology (FAT- UERJ).

Luana Santamaria Basso, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry

Master and PhD in Sciences with emphasis on Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Quantification from the University of São Paulo (USP), at the Institute for Energy and Nuclear Research (IPEN). Graduated in Biological Sciences from UNIP. Currently working on methane emissions in the Arctic using an atmospheric inversion model at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. She also completed a Post-Doctorate at the Center for Earth System Sciences of the National Institute for Space Research (CCST/INPE). She worked as a Full Professor of Biological Sciences at the Universidade Paulista. She completed her first Post-Doctorate at the University of Leeds (2015/2016), with emphasis on the carbon cycle and modeling. Since 2009, she has been working on research in the area of ​​biogeochemical cycles and Climate Change, focusing on the emission/absorption of Greenhouse Gases and the effect of climate variables on these balances. He has experience in the area of ​​Geosciences, with an emphasis on Atmospheric Chemistry, working mainly on the following topics: greenhouse gases, Amazon, climate change, methane and carbon dioxide. In addition, he has experience in data analysis, atmospheric emissions, production of projects and international journals.

Simone Marilene Sievert da Costa, INPE

Since 2008, she has held the position of Remote Sensing Researcher in the Satellites and Meteorological Sensors Division of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), where she develops research activities. She is a permanent faculty member of the Meteorology postgraduate program at INPE, and has been vice-coordinator of PGMEt since 2015. The emphasis of her work has been the use of radiative transfer codes with applications to the calculation of fluxes, radiative forcing and remote sensing. She has a degree in Physics (Bachelor's and Licentiate's degrees) from the Federal University of Paraná (1998), a Master's degree in Meteorology from the University of São Paulo (2001) and a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Reading (England, 2006). She has worked in the area of ​​education as a high school teacher in Physics and Chemistry and as a tutor in the national CSV Learning Together program in England (2005). He has experience in the area of ​​Geosciences, with emphasis on Physical Meteorology and Remote Sensing. His areas of interest are radiative transfer calculations, global energy balance, inference of atmospheric and environmental products from sensors on board satellites.

Débora Souza Alvim, USP

I work mainly on the following topics: air pollution, analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. Working with validation of global models in the aerosol part (CAM5-MAM3 and ECHAM-HAM) for future coupling of these aerosol modules in the BESM model (Brazilian Earth System Model). Validating regional air quality models such as WRF-CHEM with a focus on South America, Northern Brazil and São Paulo. Evaluating air quality over South America and globally with satellite data for aerosols, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and greenhouse gases and fires. Conducting research in the area of ​​air pollution both in large metropolises caused mainly by vehicular pollution and in remote regions due to biomass burning. Relating air pollution data with numbers of hospital admissions for respiratory problems. Graduated in Chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry of USP and PhD in Sciences from IPEN/USP. Post-doctorate in atmospheric chemistry at CPTEC/INPE. Professor of general chemistry and air pollution since 2004.

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Published

2025-12-27

How to Cite

Suski, C. A., Herdies, D. L., Fernandes, B. C. da S. ., Menegotto, E. J. ., Corrêa, S. M. ., Kasemodel, M. C. ., Oliveira, R. C. G. de ., Basso, L. S. ., Costa, S. M. S. da, & Alvim, D. S. . (2025). AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN THE METROPOLITAN REGIONS OF THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. REVISTA GEONORTE, 16(53). https://doi.org/10.21170/geonorte.2025.V.16.N.53.366.393

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Vol. 16 No. 53 (2025): JAN/JUN DE 2025

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