Capability of atmospheric air monitoring in the urban area of Cubatao using Lidar technique

This paper presents results of air quality monitoring campaigns carried out in the industrial city of Cubatao, based on the Lidar methodology. The interest in these monitoring campaigns is related to the specific situation of Cubatao as one of the largest petrochemical and industrial sites in Brazil, as well as its geographic location, in the seaside and surrounded by a mountain barrier with 600 to 1000 m height. The tests were carried using a vertically pointing mobile Lidar to derive vertical profiles of aerosols based on backscattered radiation. The results consist of vertical profiles of aerosol concentration over time, and represent a set of illustrative patterns that can be correlated with meteorological and air quality information, thus providing valuable instantaneous information on local atmospheric conditions.