Léo Ramos Chaves / Pesquisa FAPESPThe sky over São Paulo in SeptemberLéo Ramos Chaves / Pesquisa FAPESP
Of 120 metropolises around the world, São Paulo’s air quality was ranked the worst for five consecutive days between September 9 and 13, according to the Swiss website IQAir. Brazil’s largest city was extremely dry at the time, and the sky was filled with smoke from wildfires burning across the country, including in the Amazon and the Pantanal, as well as in São Paulo State itself. The air quality was considered unhealthy at various times during these days, exceeding 150 points on IQAir’s air quality index. The site updates its ranking of the average air quality in the cities it monitors in real time—usually every hour. The index is based on an average of the information provided by air pollution measuring stations installed in the cities. The pollutant it used as a reference is inhalable fine particles of up to 2.5 micrometers (MP2.5), which remain suspended in the air for a long time and can be absorbed by the human body, causing health problems. They originate from burning fossil fuels, forest fires, and the combustion of vegetation. The index is managed by a company that produces air treatment equipment (IQAir) in partnership with nongovernmental organizations, such as the environmental group Greenpeace, and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat).
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