Abstract
ABSTRACT In this study, various source apportionment methods, viz., enrichment factor, relative source contribution, and factor analysis in addition to cluster analysis coupled with satellite observations, were used to investigate the origin of rainwater pollutants in an arid urban area of Saudi Arabia. The rainwater samples were collected by an automatic wet-only sequential rain sampler and analyzed for their pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and major ions (Cl–, NO3–, SO42–, HCO3–, Na+, K+, NH4+, Ca2+, and Mg2+). The results revealed that the chemical composition was dominated by Ca2+, SO42–, Cl–, HCO3–, and Na+, which represented 80% of the total ionic equivalent concentration. Ca2+, the most abundant ion, exhibited a mean concentration of 480 µeq L–1 and accounted for 30% of the total ionic equivalent concentration. The study area received a total ionic wet deposition flux (FWD) of 4.07 tons km–2 y–1, and SO42– and NO3– contributed 76% and 24%, respectively, of the rainwater acidity. Ca2+ was responsible for 80% of the rainwater’s neutralization. The source apportionment indicated that intense local human activity and medium- to long-range transport from Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Riyadh, and the Western Province produced the majority of the anthropogenic components (SO42–, NO3–, and NH4+), which represented 47% of the total ionic FWD. However, moderate to high particulate matter loads over the southern part of Saudi Arabia and long-range transport from Iraq and Kuwait contributed the crustal components (Ca2+, HCO3–, K+, and Mg2+), which accounted for 36% of the total ionic FWD, whereas the Arabian Gulf was the primary source of the marine components (Na+ and Cl–). We found combining satellite observations and cluster analysis of backward air mass trajectories to be an effective new approach for assessing the source-receptor relationships for atmospheric air pollutants.
Highlights
The rapid development in urban areas could lead to serious air pollution concerns that affect millions of people around the world
Variations of Rainfall, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) Time series and correlation statistics of rainfall, duration of rainfall, pH, and EC are demonstrated in Fig. 2 in order to give a preliminary comprehension of the general features of the collected rainwater data
A positive and moderate correlation among pH and EC could be linked to the possible neutralization of acidic constituents by inputs of alkaline substances into rainwater, which will be thoroughly discussed in subsequent sections
Summary
The rapid development in urban areas could lead to serious air pollution concerns that affect millions of people around the world. Huge amounts of anthropogenic pollutants enter the atmosphere every instant via fossil fuel burning or from major power generation activities and industrial processes, which further lead to the development of unwanted gaseous pollutants such as oxides of sulfur and nitrogen in the atmosphere (Li et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2018). Thereafter, these gases are converted to strong acids, namely sulfuric and nitric acid, by gas-to-particle conversion, and they contribute to the formation of acid rain Other researchers investigated the occurrence and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in rainwater (Al-Daghri et al, 2013; Al-Saleh et al, 2013; Al-Daghri et al, 2014)
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