Drought and record wildfires during the 3-year La Niña: assessing air pollution impacts in Northeastern Mexico.
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| Title: | Drought and record wildfires during the 3-year La Niña: assessing air pollution impacts in Northeastern Mexico. |
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| Authors: | Ipiña A; Instituto de Física Rosario, CONICET-UNR, 27 de Febrero, Rosario, 2000, Santa Fe, Argentina. ipina@ifir-conicet.gov.ar., López-Padilla G; Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, SECIHTI, De Jalisco, Guanajuato, 36023, Guanajuato, México., Zúñiga-Villareal C; Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, SECIHTI, Carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, Ensenada, 22860, Baja California, México., Carrillo Ávila JR; Agencia de la Calidad del Aire, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente de Nuevo León, Washington, Monterrey, 64010, Nuevo León, México. |
| Source: | Environmental monitoring and assessment [Environ Monit Assess] 2025 Dec 06; Vol. 198 (1), pp. 15. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Dec 06. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 8508350 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-2959 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01676369 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Environ Monit Assess Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: 1998- : Dordrecht : Springer Original Publication: Dordrecht, Holland ; Boston : D. Reidel Pub. Co., c1981- |
| MeSH Terms: | Environmental Monitoring* , Air Pollution*/statistics & numerical data , Wildfires*/statistics & numerical data , Droughts*/statistics & numerical data , Air Pollutants*/analysis , El Nino-Southern Oscillation*, Mexico ; Particulate Matter/analysis ; Climate Change |
| Abstract: | The Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) in Northeastern Mexico, already burdened by significant industrial pollution, experienced a severe drought crisis during the 2020-2023 triple-dip La Niña. This prolonged climate anomaly triggered three major fire episodes in the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO), sharply increasing particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentrations. To assess the impact of wildfire emissions on urban pollution, this study integrates ground-based air quality and meteorological measurements, satellite-derived data (VIIRS fire radiative power and MODIS aerosol optical depth), drought indicators from the North American Drought Monitor (NADM), and dispersion modeling using Nonparametric Wind Regression (NWR). Fire-attributable contributions increased by up to 53.3 INLINEMATH gm INLINEMATH for PM10 and 12.8 INLINEMATH gm INLINEMATH for PM2.5, frequently exceeding both Mexican and WHO air quality standards. On average, the three wildfires accounted for relative increases of 110% in PM10 and 49% in PM2.5 compared to non-fire conditions. These increases were linked to wind-driven smoke transport from the SMO to the MMA, demonstrating that three megafires substantially degraded urban air quality during a period of extreme drought. As climate change is expected to increase the frequency of multi-year ENSO episodes, thereby prolonging droughts and intensifying wildfire occurrence, our findings underscore the urgent need to incorporate biomass burning aerosol emissions into air quality management strategies and health impact assessments in other regions experiencing similar conditions. (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) |
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| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Extreme drought; La Niña; PM10; PM2.5; Wildfires |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 0 (Air Pollutants) 0 (Particulate Matter) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20251206 Date Completed: 20251206 Latest Revision: 20251206 |
| Update Code: | 20251206 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10661-025-14833-6 |
| PMID: | 41351638 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
Full Text Finder 
Nájsť tento článok vo Web of Science | Abstract: | The Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) in Northeastern Mexico, already burdened by significant industrial pollution, experienced a severe drought crisis during the 2020-2023 triple-dip La Niña. This prolonged climate anomaly triggered three major fire episodes in the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO), sharply increasing particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentrations. To assess the impact of wildfire emissions on urban pollution, this study integrates ground-based air quality and meteorological measurements, satellite-derived data (VIIRS fire radiative power and MODIS aerosol optical depth), drought indicators from the North American Drought Monitor (NADM), and dispersion modeling using Nonparametric Wind Regression (NWR). Fire-attributable contributions increased by up to 53.3 INLINEMATH gm INLINEMATH for PM10 and 12.8 INLINEMATH gm INLINEMATH for PM2.5, frequently exceeding both Mexican and WHO air quality standards. On average, the three wildfires accounted for relative increases of 110% in PM10 and 49% in PM2.5 compared to non-fire conditions. These increases were linked to wind-driven smoke transport from the SMO to the MMA, demonstrating that three megafires substantially degraded urban air quality during a period of extreme drought. As climate change is expected to increase the frequency of multi-year ENSO episodes, thereby prolonging droughts and intensifying wildfire occurrence, our findings underscore the urgent need to incorporate biomass burning aerosol emissions into air quality management strategies and health impact assessments in other regions experiencing similar conditions.<br /> (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) |
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| ISSN: | 1573-2959 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10661-025-14833-6 |