Numerical Simulation of Nocturnal Ozone Increase in Metropolitan Area of São Paulo

In large cities, pollution can not only cause deaths and illnesses due to exposure of people to it, but it can also reduce visibility on days of high atmospheric stability and high emission of pollutants, which can even result in vehicular accidents. Ozone is an atmospheric oxidizing gas that forms in minimal amounts naturally. People's health can be affected by the ozone present in the air they breathe, even in low concentrations, which can worsen preexisting diseases and increase hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, especially in babies, after episodes of high levels of this pollutant. An increase in secondary peaks during the night of this atmospheric pollutant occurs in several parts of the world, but its formation depends on the local condition. In this sense, this work aims to study the regional atmospheric characteristics for the nocturnal ozone formation in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP). For this, the Simple Photochemical Module (SPM) coupled to the BRAMS (Brazilian Developments of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) will be used to simulate this condition for the urban region. The results showed that the secondary nocturnal maximum of ozone concentrations in MASP is related to vertical transport of this pollutant from higher levels of the atmosphere to the surface.