Browsing by Author "Cordero, Raul R."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Compound climate-pollution extremes in Santiago de Chile
    (2023) Feron, Sarah; Cordero, Raul R.; Damiani, Alessandro; Oyola, Pedro; Ansari, Tabish; Pedemonte, Juan C.; Wang, Chenghao; Ouyang, Zutao; Gallo, Valentina
    Cities in the global south face dire climate impacts. It is in socioeconomically marginalized urban communities of the global south that the effects of climate change are felt most deeply. Santiago de Chile, a major mid-latitude Andean city of 7.7 million inhabitants, is already undergoing the so-called "climate penalty" as rising temperatures worsen the effects of endemic ground-level ozone pollution. As many cities in the global south, Santiago is highly segregated along socioeconomic lines, which offers an opportunity for studying the effects of concurrent heatwaves and ozone episodes on distinct zones of affluence and deprivation. Here, we combine existing datasets of social indicators and climate-sensitive health risks with weather and air quality observations to study the response to compound heat-ozone extremes of different socioeconomic strata. Attributable to spatial variations in the ground-level ozone burden (heavier for wealthy communities), we found that the mortality response to extreme heat (and the associated further ozone pollution) is stronger in affluent dwellers, regardless of comorbidities and lack of access to health care affecting disadvantaged population. These unexpected findings underline the need of a site-specific hazard assessment and a community-based risk management.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Contaminant emissions as indicators of chemical elements in the snow along a latitudinal gradient in southern Andes
    (NATURE RESEARCH, 2021) Pizarro, Jaime; Vergara, Pablo M.; Cerda, Sergio; Cordero, Raul R.; Castillo, Ximena; Rowe, Penny M.; Casassa, Gino; Carrasco, Jorge; Damiani, Alessandro; Llanillo, Pedro J.; Lambert, Fabrice; Rondanelli, Roberto; Huneeus, Nicolas; Fernandoy, Francisco; Alfonso, Juan; Neshyba, Steven
    The chemical composition of snow provides insights on atmospheric transport of anthropogenic contaminants at different spatial scales. In this study, we assess how human activities influence the concentration of elements in the Andean mountain snow along a latitudinal transect throughout Chile. The concentration of seven elements (Al, Cu, Fe, Li, Mg, Mn and Zn) was associated to gaseous and particulate contaminants emitted at different spatial scales. Our results indicate carbon monoxide (CO) averaged at 20 km and nitrogen oxide (NOx) at 40 km as the main indicators of the chemical elements analyzed. CO was found to be a significant predictor of most element concentrations while concentrations of Cu, Mn, Mg and Zn were positively associated to emissions of NOx. Emission of 2.5 mu m and 10 mu m particulate matter averaged at different spatial scales was positively associated to concentration of Li. Finally, the concentration of Zn was positively associated to volatile organic compounds (VOC) averaged at 40 km around sampling sites. The association between air contaminants and chemical composition of snow suggests that regions with intensive anthropogenic pollution face reduced quality of freshwater originated from glacier and snow melting.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Elemental and mineralogical composition of the western andean snow (18°S–41°S)
    (2019) Alfonso, Juan A.; Cordero, Raul R.; Rowe, Penny M.; Neshyba, Steven; Casassa, Gino; Carrasco, Jorge; MacDonell, Shelley; Lambert, Fabrice; Pizarro, Jaime; Fernandoy, Francisco; Feron, Sarah; Damiani, Alessandro; Llanillo, Pedro; Sepulveda, Edgardo; Jorquera, Jose; Garcia, Belkis; Carrera, Juan M.; Oyola, Pedro; Kang, Choong-Min