Sulfur dioxide: Behaviour and trends at the industrial city of Araucaria/Brazil

It is known that the levels of sulfur dioxide have a close relationship to the industrial emissions and they are also related to the climate, but it’s dispersion its mainly caused by the wind dynamics. The goal of this paper is to analyze the behaviour of this compound in two stations at Araucária city, in the state of Paraná, Southern Brazil, the city which is located in the industrial zone of Curitiba, the capital of the state.

Measurements of SO2 were done in two monitoring stations in different regions of the city; one was located in the industrial zone and the other one was a residential zone. A basic statistical treatment was performed the R, which includes the construction of time series plots, histograms and analysis of SO2 levels and wind direction. The Theil-Sen trend estimator was applied on both time series in order to understand the past and present behaviour of the pollutant.

The analysis of wind and SO2 levels revealed a straight relationship between the location of the industrial zone and air pollution. The trend calculation revealed for both stations, similar situations, in which the sulfur dioxide levels are decreasing.

During this research, it was possible to notice that there is an environmental problem on the suburbs of the city with a direct result from urban growth and the lack of planning for the suburban areas. This study reinforces the importance of urban planning policies as well as monitoring and fiscalization.