Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Particulate Matters Concentration and Their Influence on Ambient Air Quality in Urban Regions of Khuzestan Province, Iran

Abstract

One of the most concerning pollutants in the urban areas across the globe is particulate matter suspended in the Earth’s atmosphere. The main objective of the current investigation is to explore the spatial and temporal patterns of ambient air particles (PM10 and PM2.5) and PM2.5/PM10 ratio in different urban areas of Khuzestan province. In this way, the required data were gathered from the environmental protection organization based on hourly mean concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 of 6 air pollution-monitoring sites for a period of 5-year. Results indicated that the average concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and PM2.5/PM10 are about 134.14±39.23 µg/m3, 44.51±13.44 µg/m3 and 0.33±0.07, respectively. The examinations revealed a reductive trend on annual values of PMs based on temporal variations. A detailed investigation of the annual mean concentrations of PMs and PM2.5/PM10 based on spatial variations demonstrated the largest values for Naderi-Ahvaz and Abadan stations. Besides, the measured AQI was larger than 100 and the Exceedance Factor (EF) values of PM10 and PM2.5 ranged between 1.51-2.73 and 0.77-1.41. The statistical analysis obtained from linear regression revealed a significant positive relation between AQI and PM2.5 and PM10 with correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.8259 and 0.7934, respectively. Although the analysis and measurement revealed a reductive trend in the annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10, the measured AQI and EF values are still far from the standards of good quality and low pollution. Therefore, it is highly necessary to follow the air pollution protocols to control PM air pollution in Khuzestan province.