Synergy between the Urban Heat Island and the Urban Pollution Island in Mexico City during the Dry Season

Abstract

The interaction between Urban Heat Island (UHI) and Urban Pollution Island (UPI) is relevant for urban studies as well as for health studies. Both phenomena have not been widely studied in Greater Mexico City (GMC). Therefore, we study the interaction between UHI and UPI in GMC where urban and rural areas are not well defined. Also, long-range transport of pollution affects GMC pollution concentration. We used 5-year data (2015–2019) from weather stations to measure the Air UHI (AUHI) and Landsat 8 data to assess the Surface UHI (SUHI). The Urban Pollution (UP) has been assessed with Particulate Matter PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations measured near the surface by air quality monitoring stations, the Aerosol Optical Depth has been used as a measure of UP. During the dry season (February–May), at night (20:00–07:59 h LT), a positive correlation (statistically significant) between the UHI and UP has been found (r = 0.39) for the UPI defined with PM2.5 between the urban and rural stations. Whereas a significant correlation (r = 0.50) has been found between UPI defined with PM10 between the urban and rural station during the autumn.