Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective
Air pollution is one of the main problems facing humanity today. Megacities and large urban areas are pollution hotspots. Measuring pollutants and recording these measurements is key to developing effective strategies to reduce the pollution levels to which people are exposed. However, air quality m...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/16/6/733 |
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| author | Kevin Basoa Zoё L. Fleming Manuel A. Leiva Carolina Concha Camilo Menares |
| author_facet | Kevin Basoa Zoё L. Fleming Manuel A. Leiva Carolina Concha Camilo Menares |
| author_sort | Kevin Basoa |
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| description | Air pollution is one of the main problems facing humanity today. Megacities and large urban areas are pollution hotspots. Measuring pollutants and recording these measurements is key to developing effective strategies to reduce the pollution levels to which people are exposed. However, air quality monitoring presents significant challenges (e.g., investment costs, maintenance), which can lead to limited monitoring equipment. Despite this, Chile has an extensive air quality monitoring network, known as the National Air Quality Information System (SINCA in Spanish). This network has more than 200 monitoring stations that measure, record, and display information on pollution levels in different locations in Chile. In this study, all the information available from the SINCA network was systematized to evaluate the completeness of the records and the current trends of several pollutants in Chile. The main results show that most measurements focus on particulate matter and sulfur dioxide concentrations, and many of the measurement stations are located in the central part of the country (32° S–38° S). However, by splitting the data into five macrozones, one can see the regional air quality characteristics and changes. Furthermore, there are significant data gaps at some monitoring stations, which makes it difficult to elaborate a robust analysis. Regarding pollution levels, a significant decrease is observed for the peak Particulate Matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) concentrations, with decreases of nearly 40% compared to concentrations at the beginning of the 2000s. This is consistent with the concentration trends, which show negative trends in most cases. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7a45803dffb34aa1a52049b517cd1ea4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj-art-7a45803dffb34aa1a52049b517cd1ea42025-08-20T03:32:31ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332025-06-0116673310.3390/atmos16060733Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven PerspectiveKevin Basoa0Zoё L. Fleming1Manuel A. Leiva2Carolina Concha3Camilo Menares4Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Gobierno de Chile, Santiago 8340515, ChileCenter for Climate and Resilience Research, (CR)2, Santiago 8320000, ChileDepartamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencia, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800003, ChileCentro de Investigación en Tecnologías para la Sociedad, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7610658, ChileCenter for Climate and Resilience Research, (CR)2, Santiago 8320000, ChileAir pollution is one of the main problems facing humanity today. Megacities and large urban areas are pollution hotspots. Measuring pollutants and recording these measurements is key to developing effective strategies to reduce the pollution levels to which people are exposed. However, air quality monitoring presents significant challenges (e.g., investment costs, maintenance), which can lead to limited monitoring equipment. Despite this, Chile has an extensive air quality monitoring network, known as the National Air Quality Information System (SINCA in Spanish). This network has more than 200 monitoring stations that measure, record, and display information on pollution levels in different locations in Chile. In this study, all the information available from the SINCA network was systematized to evaluate the completeness of the records and the current trends of several pollutants in Chile. The main results show that most measurements focus on particulate matter and sulfur dioxide concentrations, and many of the measurement stations are located in the central part of the country (32° S–38° S). However, by splitting the data into five macrozones, one can see the regional air quality characteristics and changes. Furthermore, there are significant data gaps at some monitoring stations, which makes it difficult to elaborate a robust analysis. Regarding pollution levels, a significant decrease is observed for the peak Particulate Matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) concentrations, with decreases of nearly 40% compared to concentrations at the beginning of the 2000s. This is consistent with the concentration trends, which show negative trends in most cases.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/16/6/733air quality monitoringChiletrendsair quality networkpollution |
| spellingShingle | Kevin Basoa Zoё L. Fleming Manuel A. Leiva Carolina Concha Camilo Menares Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective Atmosphere air quality monitoring Chile trends air quality network pollution |
| title | Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective |
| title_full | Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective |
| title_fullStr | Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective |
| title_short | Current Status, Trends, and Future Directions in Chilean Air Quality: A Data-Driven Perspective |
| title_sort | current status trends and future directions in chilean air quality a data driven perspective |
| topic | air quality monitoring Chile trends air quality network pollution |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/16/6/733 |
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