A Review on Atmospheric Analysis Focusing on Public Health, Environmental Legislation and Chemical Characterization

Abstract

Atmospheric pollution has been considered one of the most important topics in environmental science once it can be related to the incidence of respiratory diseases, climate change, and others. Knowing the composition of this complex and variable mixture of gases and particulate matter is crucial to understand the damages it causes, help establish limit levels, reduce emissions, and mitigate risks. In this work, the current scenario of the legislation and guideline values for indoor and outdoor atmospheric parameters will be reviewed, focusing on the inorganic and organic compositions of particulate matter and on biomonitoring. Considering the concentration level of the contaminants in air and the physical aspects (meteorological conditions) involved in the dispersion of these contaminants, different approaches for air sampling and analysis have been developed in recent years. Finally, this review presents the importance of data analysis, whose main objective is to transform analytical results into reliable information about the significance of anthropic activities in air pollution and its possible sources. This information is a useful tool to help the government implement actions against atmospheric air pollution.

Keywords:

• atmospheric pollution
• biomonitoring
• data analysis
• particulate matter
• spectrometry

Acknowledgments

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Brazil (finance code 001) and by FAPERJ (Project 26/110.184/2014). The authors thanks to CNPq (A.G., R.G.O.A. and T.D.S), to FAPERJ (A.G. and T.D.S), and to CAPES (H.G.S.S and S.S.O.), for the scholarships.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.