An overview of the MILAGRO 2006 Campaign: Mexico City emissions and their transport and transformation

Molina, L.T., S. Madronich, J.S. Gaffney, E.C. Apel, B. de Foy, J. Fast, R.A. Ferrare, S.C. Herndon, J.L. Jimenez-Palacios, B. Lamb, A.R. Osornio-Vargas, P.B. Russell, J.J. Schauer, P. Stevens, R. Volkamer, and M. Zavala (2010), An overview of the MILAGRO 2006 Campaign: Mexico City emissions and their transport and transformation, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 8697-8760, doi:10.5194/acp-10-8697-2010.
Abstract

MILAGRO (Megacity Initiative: Local And Global Research Observations) is an international collaborative project to examine the behavior and the export of atmospheric emissions from a megacity. The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) – one of the world’s largest megacities and North America’s most populous city – was selected as the case study to characterize the sources, concentrations, transport, and transformation processes of the gases and fine particles emitted to the MCMA atmosphere and to evaluate the regional and global impacts of these emissions. The findings of this study are relevant to the evolution and impacts of pollution from many other megacities.

The measurement phase consisted of a month-long series of carefully coordinated observations of the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere in and near Mexico City during March 2006, using a wide range of instruments at ground sites, on aircraft and satellites, and enlisting over 450 scientists from 150 institutions in 30 countries. Three ground supersites were set up to examine the evolution of the primary emitted gases and fine particles. Additional platforms in or near Mexico City included mobile vans containing scientific laboratories and mobile and stationary upward-looking lidars. Seven instrumented research aircraft provided information about the atmosphere over a large region and at various altitudes. Satellite-based instruments peered down into the atmosphere, providing even larger geographical coverage. The overall campaign was complemented by meteorological forecasting and numerical simulations, satellite observations and surface networks. Together, these research observations have provided the most comprehensive characterization of the MCMA’s urban and regional atmospheric composition and chemistry that will take years to analyze and evaluate fully.

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Research Program
Radiation Science Program (RSP)
Tropospheric Composition Program (TCP)
Mission
MILAGRO