The first programmatic goal of the project is to provide additional and more comprehensive information than is currently available to explain the nature and causes of particulate concentrations and visibility impairment in and around Mexico City. This information is needed to better understand the implications of currently planned emission reduction strategies, and to focus future emissions reduction efforts in those areas where they will have the greatest benefit on air quality for the least cost. This goal is being pursued by obtaining and analyzing ambient data acquired during an intensive field campaign carried out in Mexico City in February and March of 1997. This period was selected.
