MexCAPS: Mexico City Air Pollution study

Summary

The Mexico City Air Pollution study (MexCAPS) was the first comprehensive program designed to provide substantive recommendations for improving the air quality of Mexico City. This effort began under the joint auspices of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo. The program, which was funded for 2 and a half years, consisted of meteorological and chemical modeling, data gathering and development of mitigation strategies, followed by an assessment of the costs of those strategies and their socioeconomic impact. The role of the airborne measurements was to obtain information on the temporal and spacial variability of some of the primary constituents and the meteorological fields at altitudes above ground level. The aircraft measurements played an important role in determining to what extent measurements of airflow and pollutant concentrations at the ground are representative of the conditions in the air above the city.