Influência do efeito de queimadas na visibilidade horizontal em aeródromos no estado do Mato Grosso

Abstract

Forest fires in the state of Mato Grosso cause a series of consequences for the environment and society. Particles suspended in the air, from the large amount of smoke released, can bring challenges and damages to civil aviation, as, in some cases, they interrupt airport operations, endanger the lives of passengers and affect the local economy. Therefore, the present research aims to evaluate the influence on the horizontal visibility of the concentration of particulate matter in the atmosphere, caused as a result of fire events, at airfields in the municipalities of Alta Floresta and Cuiabá and to analyze the evolution of these outbreaks of heat over a time series. The Quantis technique was used to classify the distribution of precipitation based on data from the Agrometeorological Monitoring System (Agritempo) and later the quantification of hotspots in these Municipalities was carried out in the time series from 2018 to 2021. The evaluation of the relationship between the number of hotspots versus the release of aerosols into the atmosphere, and the relationship between horizontal visibility and restrictions on landings and take-offs at aerodromes was based on aerosol data obtained by the AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) platform. Data from the meteorological aerodrome reports, METAR (Meteorological Aerodrome Report), were consulted in order to verify what were the visibility conditions at the airports of Alta Floresta and Cuiabá on the days with the highest number of hotspots, which occasionally occurred in the year of 2020. Concomitantly, the temporal evolution of these hotspots over the years analyzed and the units of landscapes sensitive to the occurrence of fires were studied, based on data from the Annual Mapping Project of Land Use and Coverage in Brazil (MapBiomas). Therefore, it was found that in 2020, in general, there was a strong increase in the number of hotspots in both municipalities and on August 31, 2020, it was impossible to perform landings and takeoffs at Cuiabá airport due to the high concentration of smoke. It was also possible to notice that there is no pattern of specific locations for the occurrence of hotspots in these cities in the driest months, but there is a certain pattern in the type of area in which they predominantly occur, being Pasture in Alta Floresta and Savânica Formation in Cuiabá.