Distribution of Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations Over Paraguay

Nilda Carolina Recalde Acosta¹, and Genaro Coronel²

1. Faculty of Engineering, National University of Asunción, Paraguay

2. Polytechnic Faculty, National University of Asunción, Paraguay

Abstract: In recent years, atmospheric pollution has increased in Latin American countries, with negative effects on ecosystems and human health. One of these pollutants is NO₂, little known in its distribution and studies in Paraguay, where the sources of immission into the atmosphere come mainly from forest fires, very common and cyclical in Paraguay, so studying this phenomenon is relevant. The analysis of the spatial-temporal distribution of the concentration of this gas in Paraguay was carried out with data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (IMO/NASA). The NO₂ concentration over Paraguay exceeded 110 μg/cm² in 2007 and 2012, and in Asuncion the highest value was in 2012 with 34.53 μg/cm². The HYSPLIT model of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) indicated where the pollutant masses came from. The spatiotemporal variations of the burning foci were obtained from the Burn Bank of CPTC-INPE Brazil. It was observed in the study years 2005 to October 2020, that the geographically distributed burns are not homogeneous, they are cyclical and more common in the months of August, September and October, with a large increase in concentration emissions.

Key words: air pollution, NO₂ effects, human health, forest fires, tropospheric NO₂ in Paraguay