The Influence of Meteorological Parameters and Land use on the Seasonal Concentration of Carbon Monoxide (CO) in the Industrial Coastal City of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Deaths resulting from CO poisoning has been a recurrent incidence in the city of Port Harcourt especially from risky behaviors, such as improper placement of power generating sets and indoor use of charcoal grills. Domestic CO poisoning is rarely reported and remains an under recognized problem. This study therefore examined the concentration of Carbon Monoxide (CO) as influenced by both landuse and meteorological parameters of wind speed, relative humidity, ambient temperature and rainfall in the industrial city of Port Harcourt. Air quality and meteorological data were measured at twelve stations: two each from the industrial, high and low density residential, commercial, transportation and surrounding rural areas. Data were collected for seven weeks during wet, transition and dry seasons. Analysis of data was done using ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression techniques. Result showed that during the wet season, wind speed was significant at 99% in impacting the concentration of CO at the low density residential areas of GRA and Abuloma housing estates. The coefficient of determination value (22.9%) showed that jointly, the meteorological variable accounted for 23.9% of the variation in the concentration of CO during the wet season at the low density residential areas. At the rural areas, the correlation matrix shows that both rainfall (-0.117) and wind speed (-0.318) correlated inversely with CO during the wet season. But air temperature (0.005) and relative humidity (0.268) correlated directly with CO. Generally, the mean weekly concentration of CO revealed that the industrial areas accounted for 28.8%, 26.7% and 22.1% of the total atmospheric loading of CO during the transition, dry and wet season respectively. Further studies are needed to link exposure to CO with mortality and morbidity.