83% of the population of South America live in urban areas, while having access to a range of services andindustrial sources, must also suffer the cost of living in cities with highair pollution. Ph.D. in Meteorology, Laura Gallardo addressed this issue in herpresentation “The air we breathe in a changing world”, which is partof the conference Exploring with Science Climate Change organized by the ProgramExplora Conicyt.
In about 40 years, the number of cities that exceed the five millioninhabitants has been six times more and this growth may be sustained over time.In these cities meet over 80% of the population of South America and also converge severeenvironmental problems. Along with tropical biomass burning, megacities are themain mechanisms of atmospheric and climate global change of this continent.
Laura Gallardo is associate professor in the Department of Geophysics (DGF) andresearcher at the Centre for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) from the Faculty of Physicaland Mathematical Sciences at Universidad de Chile. She also coordinates anetwork of 23 researchers from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and the United States in the project South American Emissions, Megacities andClimate,which deals with the assessment and evaluation of mobile emissions in themegacities of South America.
This is the fifth conference of Exploring with Science Climate Change, a courseaimed particularly at teachers.
