Pollution analysis of PM2.5 using geographic tools in the city of Bogotá

Abstract

The particles in suspension with lower size than 2.5 microns are created mostly by human activities, for example, the vehicular combustion. It has been proved that these particles can generate serious pulmonary and cardiovascular problems therefore is of great importance the control this type of contamination.

It was determined which sectors of the city were the most affected by the concentration of particles PM2.5 and how the behavior of the wind influences this concentration. For this purpose, information of the environmental Observatory from Bogota was used dating from 2014.

A GIS was made to evaluate the annual and monthly average pollution index, getting as a result that the west area of the city, in particular the locality of Kennedy, is where higher concentration of PM2.5 was found. Even more, in Bogota city the months of February, March and November shows the higher contamination levels are reported by this kind of particles because the reduced wind speed prolongs its permanence in the zone.