Abstract: Air pollution is a serious environmental threat to human and environmental health, putting pressure on global to local policymakers to elaborate air quality management systems. In Brazil, new air quality standards have been established since 2019, through resolution Number 491 from Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente – CONAMA assimilating recent recommendations from the World Health Organization. The resolution presents a step forward for developing air quality management systems by enforcing state and district environmental bodies to elaborate Emissions Control Plans and Air Quality Assessment Reports. Regional and local environmental agencies will be in charge of establishing criteria applicable to environmental licensing and implementing the Atmospheric Emissions Control Plan. However, no guidance has been provided to support environmental agencies to derive their own regulations. It is critical considering the Brazilian socioeconomic scenario, where air quality data is scarce, knowledge and the development of expertise are not homogeneous, and scientific advisory groups are concentrated in developed centers. Here, we present a methodology for detecting hotspots and major sources of air pollution in Brazil, using emissions inventories and air quality data from the Brazilian Atmospheric Inventories – BRAIN. We detected the strength and extent of air quality impacts, showing the spatial hotspots and their major drivers using a domain in Southern Brazil as a study case. Our method could answer demands from CONAMA resolution, dealing with data gaps in Brazil. The method has been developed using experiences in the state of Santa Catarina and could be employed by every environmental agency in Brazil to prioritize efforts for controlling air pollution.

Keywords: BRAIN, air pollution, emission inventory, CMAQ, Brazil.