http://hdl.handle.net/10174/37677 2026-11-12T18:14:30Z 2026-11-12T18:14:30Z Duarte, de Souza Fernandes Duarte Rémy, Samuel Elias, Thierry Costa, Maria João de Arruda Moreira, Gregori Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis Bortoli, Daniele Salgado, Rui Hoelzemann, Judith Johanna http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42712 2026-10-28T16:05:30Z 2026-10-06T23:00:00Z

Title: Compound fire–meteorology extremes drove megacity air pollution during the 2024 South American fire season Authors: Duarte, de Souza Fernandes Duarte; Rémy, Samuel; Elias, Thierry; Costa, Maria João; de Arruda Moreira, Gregori; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis; Bortoli, Daniele; Salgado, Rui; Hoelzemann, Judith Johanna Abstract: Extreme air pollution increasingly threatens major cities, yet the relative roles of urban emissions and biomass-burning smoke transported across multiple spatial scales remain difficult to quantify. Here, we investigate three multi-day pollution extremes that affected São Paulo State during the 2024 South American fire season, when daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) reached 80–100 μg m−3 in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo. We combined surface observations, aerosol optical thickness measurements, backward trajectories, and controlled global atmospheric simulations differing only in fire-emission representation to quantify the biomass-burning contribution. Simulations without fire emissions failed to reproduce the observed PM2.5 and carbon monoxide (CO) peaks, whereas fire-attributable PM2.5 increments reached 17–21 μg m−3 at the state scale and the ensemble-mean cumulative metropolitan fire-attributable burden reached ∼547 μg m−3 day across E1–E3 combined. The three events revealed contrasting source–receptor configurations: regional and longer-range transport combined with weak receptor ventilation during E1 (15–24 August), greater fire activity during E2 (29 August–5 September) produced a comparatively weaker receptor response under less persistent transport pathways, and E3 (7–15 September) occurred when intense fire activity across multiple spatial scales coincided with favourable transport configurations, anomalous heat and dryness, and weak ventilation. Fire-emission configurations producing larger aerosol enhancements generally showed better agreement with observations, although all inventories underestimated the most extreme episode. These results show that megacity pollution can arise from the combined effects of biomass-burning emissions, atmospheric transport, and adverse meteorological conditions, while highlighting substantial sensitivity to fire-emission representation in operational atmospheric-composition systems.

2026-10-06T23:00:00Z Duarte, de Souza Fernandes Duarte http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42699 2026-10-28T11:55:39Z 2026-09-16T23:00:00Z

Title: Brazilian heatwaves are shifting towards dry-hot thermodynamic regimes in transformed landscapes Authors: Duarte, de Souza Fernandes Duarte Abstract: Heatwaves are intensifying globally, but their impacts depend strongly on the atmospheric moisture conditions under which extreme heat occurs. We show that Brazilian heatwaves underwent preferential dry-hot amplification during 1990–2024. Hourly ERA5 reanalysis was converted into daily thermodynamic diagnostics to classify general, humid, dry-hot, and compound dry-hot/stagnant heatwaves. General heatwaves showed widespread increases in frequency, cumulative duration, and intensity, whereas humid-heatwave trends were weak and spatially fragmented. Dry-hot heatwaves intensified coherently across central and southeastern Brazil, including the Cerrado, MATOPIBA, the southern Amazon–Cerrado transition, Pantanal, and parts of the Caatinga/Semi-arid region. Using a common Tmax-only severity metric, dry-hot amplification exceeded humid amplification across much of Brazil, with a positive DHW − HHW contrast over 73.6% of the country. This pattern was spatially associated with increasing vapour-pressure deficit and declining relative humidity. Cumulative landscape state was more consistently associated with the DHW − HHW contrast than recent land-cover change, although landscape–atmosphere relationships were regionally heterogeneous. VPD decomposition showed that atmospheric drying reflected both warming-driven increases in saturation demand and regional changes in actual vapour pressure, rather than a uniform decline in atmospheric moisture. Spatially robust controlled models supported positive associations among transformed land, evaporative demand, and dry-hot amplification, while accounting for spatial dependence and without implying causality or mediation. The DHW − HHW contrast remained positive under alternative VPD and wet-bulb thresholds, although its magnitude was sensitive to minimum event duration. Temporal tests showed that recent extremes strengthened, but did not generate, the multi-decadal dry-hot signal. Brazilian heatwave trends therefore show preferential amplification under dry-hot conditions, with implications for vegetation water stress, agriculture, ecosystem vulnerability, and fire-conducive weather.

2026-09-16T23:00:00Z Santos, João Miguel Garcia, João M. Dias, João Martins, João Alvarenga, Nuno Gonçalves, Elsa Freitas, Daniela Silvério, Karina Fernandes, Jaime Gomes, Sandra Lageiro, Manuel Potes, Miguel Caeiro, José http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42117 2026-06-05T10:21:14Z 2025-10-30T00:00:00Z

Title: Energy Sustainability in the Ripening of Traditional Cheese: Renewable Energy Sources and Internet of Things Based Energy Monitoring Authors: Santos, João Miguel; Garcia, João M.; Dias, João; Martins, João; Alvarenga, Nuno; Gonçalves, Elsa; Freitas, Daniela; Silvério, Karina; Fernandes, Jaime; Gomes, Sandra; Lageiro, Manuel; Potes, Miguel; Caeiro, José Abstract: Improving the energy efficiency of traditional production methods while preserving their cultural and economic value is a challenge aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 agenda. Refrigeration during cheese maturation is particularly energy-intensive, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs. An approach to make traditional cheese production more sustainable, through the development of a prototype ripening chamber with a natural refrigerant-based refrigeration system powered by renewable energy was studied. A dedicated system based on an Internet of Things architecture was developed using low-cost sensors, microcontroller units, and single-board computers to enable real-time measurement and monitoring of environmental variables and energy consumption throughout the ripening process. A comparative analysis was conducted using ewe’s milk cheese, produced and ripened with Protected Designation of Origin conditions, in both the prototype and the conventional chambers over four weeks, quantifying energy consumption and evaluating product quality. Results demonstrate the technical feasibility of energy efficient and sustainable refrigeration systems, as well as the possibility of retrofitting installed cheese ripening chambers with affordable IoT monitoring systems, while maintaining traditional cheese quality standards.

2025-10-30T00:00:00Z Almeida, Domingas de Oliveira Duarte, Edicle de Souza Fernandes Gomes, Ana Carla dos Santos Batalha, Sarah Suely Alves Mandú, Tiago Bentes Nascimento, Fernanda Souza do Silva, Glauce Vitor da Costa, Maria João http://hdl.handle.net/10174/42008 2026-05-13T16:12:02Z 2026-03-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Spatiotemporal assessment of wildfire smoke exposure using a low-cost air quality monitoring system in a developing Amazonian city Authors: Almeida, Domingas de Oliveira; Duarte, Edicle de Souza Fernandes; Gomes, Ana Carla dos Santos; Batalha, Sarah Suely Alves; Mandú, Tiago Bentes; Nascimento, Fernanda Souza do; Silva, Glauce Vitor da; Costa, Maria João Abstract: Biomass burning is the dominant source of seasonal air pollution in the Amazon, yet local-scale exposure remains poorly characterized due to sparse monitoring. This study aims to quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics and drivers of PM2.5 pollution in Santarém, Brazilian Amazon, by integrating measurements from a dense network of low-cost sensors, satellite-derived fire radiative power (FRP), and reanalysis meteorology throughout 2023. We applied Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to evaluate the daily influence of fire activity and meteorological conditions on local PM2.5. Mean PM2.5 concentrations increased from ∼5 μg/m3 in the rainy season to ∼16 μg/m3 in the dry season, with 94% of exceedances occurring from July–December and a fine-particle dominance (PM2.5/PM10 ≈ 0.79). Peri-urban communities experienced earlier-season pollution peaks, whereas the urban core showed more persistent late-season accumulation. FRP emerged as the primary driver of PM2.5, with effect sizes strengthening from 10% (wet season) to 25% (dry season) per standard deviation, while meteorological factors such as wind speed and boundary-layer height played secondary but modulating roles. A negligible weekend–weekday contrast confirmed that smoke overwhelmingly dominates over local traffic emissions. Finally, we operationalized these relationships into a low-computational-cost FRP–Meteo–PM2.5 polar radar tool for identifying high-risk smoke transport corridors. These results provide actionable evidence for early warning and highlight the urgent need for targeted fire management to reduce public health risks in developing Amazonian cities.

2026-03-01T00:00:00Z