A new strategy for risk assessment of PM-bound elements by considering the influence of wind regimes.

For regulatory purposes, air pollution has been reduced to management of air quality control regions (AQCR), by inventorying pollution sources and identifying the receptors significantly affected. However, beyond being source-dependent, particulate matter can be physically and chemically altered by factors and elements of climate during transport, as they act as local environmental constraints, indirectly modulating the adverse effects of particles on the environment and human health. This case study, at an industrial site in a Brazilian coastal city - Joinville, combines different methodologies to integrate atmospheric dynamics in a strategic risk assessment approach whereby the influence of different wind regimes on environmental and health risks of exposure to PM-bound elements, are analysed.

River Winds and Transport of Forest Volatiles in the Amazonian Riparian Ecoregion.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from forests are important chemical components that affect ecosystem functioning, atmospheric chemistry, and regional climate. Temperature differences between a forest and an adjacent river can induce winds that influence VOC fate and transport. Quantitative observations and scientific understanding, however, remain lacking.

Impact of El Niño on the dynamics of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in a municipality in the western Amazon.

Vector-borne diseases are some of the leading public health problems in the tropics, and their association with climatic anomalies is well known. The current study aimed to evaluate the trend of American cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in the municipality of Manaus, Amazonas-Brazil, and its relationship with climatic extremes (ENSO). The study was carried out using a series of secondary data from notifications on the occurrence of several American cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in the municipality of Manaus between 1990 and 2017 obtained through the Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação.

Composition of sand fly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) and detection of Leishmania DNA (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in different ecotopes from a rural settlement in the central Amazon, Brazil.

Background: Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are vectors of Leishmania species, the etiological agents of leishmaniasis, which is one of the most important emerging infectious diseases in the Americas. In the state of Amazonas in Brazil, anthropogenic activities encourage the presence of these insects around rural homes. The present study aimed to describe the composition and distribution of sand fly species diversity among the ecotopes (intradomicile, peridomicile and forest) in an area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission and detect natural infection with Leishmania DNA to evaluate which vectors are inside houses and whether the presence of possible vectors represents a hazard of transmission.

Impact of the biomass burning on methane variability during dry years in the Amazon measured from an aircraft and the AIRS sensor.

The present study examines the spatiotemporal variability and interrelations of the atmospheric methane (CH), carbon monoxide (CO) and biomass burning (BB) outbreaks retrieved from satellite data over the Amazon region during the 2003-2012 period. In the climatological context, we found consistent seasonal cycles of BB outbreaks and CO in the Amazon, both variables showing a peak during the dry season. The dominant CO variability mode features the largest positive loadings in the southern Amazon, and describes the interannual CO variations related to BB outbreaks along the deforestation arc during the dry season.

Airborne observations reveal elevational gradient in tropical forest isoprene emissions.

Isoprene dominates global non-methane volatile organic compound emissions, and impacts tropospheric chemistry by influencing oxidants and aerosols. Isoprene emission rates vary over several orders of magnitude for different plants, and characterizing this immense biological chemodiversity is a challenge for estimating isoprene emission from tropical forests. Here we present the isoprene emission estimates from aircraft eddy covariance measurements over the Amazonian forest.

American cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in the metropolitan region of Manaus, Brazil: association with climate variables over time.

A temporal series of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and other environmental parameters covering the years 2002- 2009 was used for the study of the potential association between the climate and the number of cases of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Manaus Metropolitan Region (MMR), State of Amazonas, Brazil. The results show that CL has a marked seasonality and a strong linkage with local climate conditions. Dry and warm conditions favor the vector, while the maximum number of CL cases occurs during the following wet season.