Abstract
Dust storms have impacts on both human and physical environments, associated with an increase in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) concentrations. Most studies on exposure to PM have focused on the outdoor air, while information on indoor pollution, is still lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of desert dust events on PM concentrations in indoor environments. A total of over 200 real time measurements of PM were conducted in houses in the Negev Desert during dust storms. Indoor and outdoor PM concentrations were characterized, as well as the relationships between the two datasets. The findings indicated that atmospheric PM10 concentrations can increase from 20–120 μg·m−3 on non-dust days to more than 1500 μg·m−3 during dust events. Indoor concentrations can reach as high as 1000 μg·m−3. The calculated indoor/outdoor (I/O) PM ratio ranged from 0.79 for low-level storms to 0.58 during stronger events. Indoor PM concentrations were found to be dependent on the dust storm intensity (low, medium, high) and duration with a time lag. The information obtained in this study is critical for assessment of policy interventions to reduce exposure risk and health effects due dust storms.
Highlights
Desert dust storms are a natural phenomenon which can pose a serious environmental hazard.The origin of the dust is mainly from desert soils and it contains diverse mineral and organic components [1]
This study explores variations in outdoor and indoor particulate matter (PM) levels in an arid city (Beer Sheva) through analyses of real-time data collected during a series of dust events
The results show that the atmospheric PM10 concentrations in an arid city can increase significantly from 20 to 120 μg·m−3 on non-dust days to more than 1500 μg·m−3 during dust events
Summary
Desert dust storms are a natural phenomenon which can pose a serious environmental hazard.The origin of the dust is mainly from desert soils and it contains diverse mineral and organic components [1]. A number of epidemiological studies have associated risk exposure to ambient PM10 levels during desert dust outbreaks with increased cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions or even mortality [5,6,7]. A study by Perez et al showed that an increase of 10 μg·m−3 of PM during Sahara dust storms was associated with an increase in all-cause daily mortality of 8.4% [8]. The majority of epidemiological studies were performed in non-arid urban environments. In addition these studies are based on outdoor PM measurements, people are exposed to PM in indoor environments such as homes, schools, offices and restaurants, where they spend most of their time- in particular during dust events
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