Rapid urban growth, land-use changes and air pollution in Santiago, Chile

This paper is a contribution to the understanding of the topoclimatic and e nvironmental geography of the basin where Santiago - one of the most pollut ed Latin American city - is located. In the first part, land-use change is analysed looking at the climatic transformation caused by the rapid transit from natural semiarid surface to urban areas. In the second part, seasonal weather and daily cycles of slope winds and the available ventilation are described trying to relate those patterns with the spatial distribution of air pollution. A combination of meteorological, geographical and cultural f actors explain extreme air pollution events: meteorologically, Santiago is under permanent subsidence inversion layers. Geographically, the city is lo cated in a closed basin surrounded by mountains. Culturally, the urban area has the highest population concentration (40% of the national total), indu stries (near 70% of the total) and vehicles, which are the main sources of smog. The urban and suburban transport system is based on a large number of buses (diesel) and private cars, both experiencing a rapid growth from the past few years. The city and specially the transport system generates high emissions of pollutant, bur the natural semiarid deforested soils and slop es are also important sources. The local wind system can explain the differ ential spatial distribution on the concentration of air pollutants in the c ity and its periphery. In winter train season concentrations of particulate matter are higher at the centre and the SW part of the city. The andean pi edmont area (E part of the city) shows minimum values, suggesting major ven tilation effects of slope and valley winds. Ozone exceeds air quality stand ards in summer (dry season) at all sites in the centre and periphery. Howev er, the O-3-concentrations are higher on preferred residential areas locate d at the piedmont area (E part of the city), suggesting air pollution trans port effects. Currently, there is no consideration of these local climatic features in the process of urban planning. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.