title: Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter (PM) at high altitude cities.
abstract: The Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter (PM) at high altitude urban areas in different countries, must consider the pressure and temperature due to the effect that these parameters have on the breath volume. This paper shows the importance to correct Air Quality Standards for PM considering pressure and temperature at different altitudes. Specific factors were suggested to convert the information concerning PM, from local to standard conditions, and adjust the Air Quality Standards for different high altitudes cities. The correction factors ranged from: 1.03 for Santiago de Chile to 1.47 for El Alto Bolivia. Other cities in this study include: Mexico City, México; La Paz, Bolivia; Bogota, Cali and Medellin, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador and Cuzco, Peru. If these corrections are not considered, the atmospheric concentrations will be underestimated.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, México DF 04510, Mexico. hbravo@unam.mx
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bravo Alvarez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sosa Echeverria
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sanchez Alvarez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krupa
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000531:Altitude; D001838:Bolivia; D002677:Chile; D002947:Cities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003105:Colombia; D004484:Ecuador; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008800:Mexico; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards*; D010568:Peru
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter