Monitoring of Fine Particulate Matter and Black Carbon, in Micro-Environments of Manizales Andean City: Pilot Study

Abstract

Manizales has an air quality network which measure particulate matter (PM) in ambient air concentrations. However, this monitoring system does not have information of pollutant concentrations in the vicinity of roads. The objective of this study was to determine the concentration of the fine parti-culate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC) near main roads of Manizales. The evaluation considered micro-environments related with pedestrians of roads and passengers of public transport buses. PM2.5 and BC concen-trations were measured during two weeks for periods of five hours per day in the morning. The instruments used were two DustTrack photometers (model 8533) and a Microethalometer model AE51. The data were analyzed according to each micro-environment and three different zones of the city.

The median values of PM2.5 and BC concentrations were 10 % and 30 % lower in the eastern zone than in the center zone, showing the impact of vehicular emissions in ambient air concentrations. In public transport buses, the median of PM2.5 and BC concentrations were 57 % and 54 % higher than those obtained near roads. In terms of inside the public trans-port buses micro-environment, the contribution of BC was approximately 41 % of the total PM concentrations. This is the first study performed in Manizales in which concentrations of fine particles and BC near roads and public transport (pedestrians and passengers) were evaluated. These types of studies are important for adding new information for air quality management in the city and for complementing the official air quality monitoring.