Size-Segregated Particulate Matter Down to PM0.1 and Carbon Content during the Rainy and Dry Seasons in Sumatra Island, Indonesia

Muhammad Amin,Rahmi Mulia Putri,Worradorn Phairuang,Fadjar Goembira,Rizki Andre Handika,Mitsuhiko Hata,Fumikazu Ikemori,Aulia Ullah,Masami Furuuchi,Perapong Tekasakul

doi:10.3390/atmos12111441

Abstract

Size-segregated particulate matter (PM) including the PM0.1 fraction, particles ≤0.1 µm, was monitored during the rainy and dry seasons at three different cities in Sumatra island, Indonesia in 2018. In order to identify possible emission sources, carbonaceous components in the particles collected by a cascade air sampler that is capable of collecting PM0.1 particles were analyzed by applying a thermal/optical reflectance (IMPROVE-TOR) protocol. The PM0.1 levels in the Jambi and Pekanbaru areas were similar to those in large cities in East Asia, such as Bangkok and Hanoi. During the rainy season, local emissions in the form of vehicle combustion were the main sources of PM. The influence of peatland fires in the dry season was more significant in cities that are located on the east coast of Sumatra island because of the larger number of hotspots and air mass trajectories along the coast. A clear increase in the carbonaceous profiles as OC, TC, and OC/EC ratios in the dry season from the rainy season was observed, particularly in fine fractions such as PM0.5–1. In both seasons, EC vs. OC/EC correlations and soot-EC/TC ratios showed that the PM0.1 fraction in Sumatra island was heavily influenced by vehicle emissions, while the effect of biomass burning was more sensitive with respect to the PM0.5–1 fraction, particularly in Jambi and Pekanbaru sites during the dry season.

Highlights

Introduction distributed under the terms andAir pollution is becoming a serious problem in all countries and is believed to cause both short- and long-term adverse effects on human health [1,2,3]
The average mass concentrations of particulate matter (PM) in all sites during the rainy and dry seasons are shown in Figure 2a–e, respectively, for PM0.1, PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and TSP
42.8–59.1 μg/m3, respectively) were consistently larger than those in the WHO guidelines for h (50 and μg/m3, respectively), and only the PM10 value (48.31 μg/m3 ) was less than that in the guidelines at the Jambi site, while all of the guideline values were satisfied at the Padang city site

Summary

Introduction

Air pollution is becoming a serious problem in all countries and is believed to cause both short- (illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis and irritation to the nose, eyes, or skin) and long-term (heart diseases, lung cancer, or emphysema) adverse effects on human health [1,2,3]. Indonesia has become a main contributor of emissions derived from forest fires in Equatorial Asia region since the El Niño year in 1997 [9]. Because of the meteorological characteristics over the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, air pollution in Indonesia would not be expected to be a local problem, but in reality, a transboundary smoke-haze problem exists that affects neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Southern Thailand, Brunei, and Philippines [10,11,12,13]

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Discussion

Conclusion