San Pedro Garza Garcia air quality map

How much interesting information about air quality is there on the air pollution map for Garcia?

At the top of the main city page is a small map which acts as a link to a new set of pages which are filled with all the latest information about air quality in Garcia.

When the first page of a new set of pages opens, the viewer will see a solid block of colour which is the background of the map and is a depiction of the current air quality. At the time of writing in June 2023, the colour was green which shows the air quality as being “Good”. The explanation of the various colours used can be seen in the legend at the foot of the page. These are standard colours across the full IQAir website and range from pale green to dark purple where the darker colours indicate worsening air quality.

There are also many coloured discs scattered across the screen which show the sites of all of the ground-level air monitoring stations in and around the city. Most of these appear to be superimposed on each other so the map needs to be expanded so the discs begin to separate and become easier to see. All of the discs on the map are not under the control of the city.

In the middle of each disc is a number which is the United States Air Quality Index reading or US AQI for short. This is calculated by measuring the levels of up to six of the most commonly found pollutants in the city air. They are usually both sizes of Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Once the reading is established it is used as a standard when comparing levels of air pollution in different areas around the world. The whole scheme is actively encouraged by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Looking back at the main city page, the coloured banner across the top of it shows the air quality at that time was “Good” with a US AQI reading of 44. The green background colour of it also visually shows this level, instantly. PM2.5 was found to be the primary pollutant with a recorded level of 10.6 µg/m³ (microns per cubic metre). This figure is slightly over twice the suggested target figure of 5 µg/m³ which is recommended by the WHO.

The information underneath the air pollution map for Garcia shows the number of contributors there are and the number of stations they collect and collate the data from. At the start of June 2023, there were twenty-six contributors operating the same number of stations. One contributor was the government department known as the Instituto Nacional de Ecologia y Cambio Climatico (INECC) which operates 114 stations across the country and has over 300,000 followers. The rest of the twenty-five contributors prefer to remain anonymous.

Are there any more facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Garcia?

There is an icon at the top of the leading page which is used as a link to a full-screen section where all the information is available in a set of new pages, and is very easy to view. There are a lot more of the latest facts and figures about air quality in this area.

A list of four options will now be visible down the left-hand side of the page which can each be deactivated individually to see the effects they have on the map.

The first option shows the positions of all the ground-level air quality monitoring stations there are within the local region but they are not all controlled by the city authorities.

Option number two shows the locations of any wildfires there are that are burning out of control in the area. At the beginning of June 2023, there were no reports of any fires in the region. If fires are detected, option four needs to be consulted because it shows the speed and direction of the prevailing winds and will give a good indication of where the smoke from the fires may drift.

Option number three changes the background colour of the map to indicate the current level of air pollution. The colour can be quite distracting when the air quality is poor but it can be disabled so the map will revert to a more subdued set of colours which might be easier to understand and more suitable for a map.

More facts and figures about air pollution are on the right-hand side of the screen. A table will be seen here which ranks the seven dirtiest participating cities in the entire world. The rest of the world cities can be found by exploring the “Full-ranking” section where the rest of the cities are listed in descending order of cleanliness.

Also below the map is a list which shows where the most polluted areas of the city are, based on the US AQI readings from the stations. Currently, the most polluted part of the city is around the station at Adolfo Lopez Mateos with a reported US AQI reading of 73 which would be “Moderate”.

There is also a list which shows how popular the various stations are according to the number of followers they each have. Currently, the most popular station is at the Irish International School which has almost 60,000 followers.

Is the source of pollution visible on the air quality map for Garcia?

The source of the polluted air is not identified on the air quality map for Garcia but it is believed that the main agent that causes pollution is the industry through its gases and waste, followed by cars and lorries and the burning of garbage. Citizens believe that air pollution is not a recent issue and that 81 per cent acknowledge that it is a problem from more than 5 years ago.

PM2.5 and PM10 are often cited on the air quality map for Garcia, but what are they?

The respirable particulate matter present in the atmosphere of our cities in solid or liquid form (dust, ash, soot, metal particles, cement and pollen, among others) can be divided into two main groups, depending on their size. Those with an aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 10 µm or 10 microns (1 µm corresponds to one thousandth of a millimetre) are called PM10 and the smallest respirable fraction, PM2.5. The latter is made up of those particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometres, that is, they are 100 times thinner than a human hair.