spatial and temporal analysis of air pollution in makkah...
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Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Air Pollution in Makkah, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Turki M. Habeebullah 1, Said Munir
1, Essam A. Morsy
1 and Atef M.F. Mohammed
1,2
1 The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research, Umm Al-Qura University,
Makkah, Saudi Arabia 2 Air Pollution Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt
Abstract. Spatial – temporal analysis of air pollutants is fundamental to the process of air pollutants related
risk and damage assessment. This paper analyses spatiotemporal variability of air pollutants in Makkah,
using data from 4 monitoring sites during the Hajj (Pilgrimage) 1433 (October, 2012). The analysis is based
on graphical presentations, correlation analysis and analysis of variance. The analysis of variance showed
significant difference (p-value < 0.05) between various monitoring sites and dates for all pollutants. Both
diurnal and weekly cycles of the air pollutants demonstrated considerable variations at different sites.
Correlation coefficients (R) between PM10 concentrations measured at different monitoring sites were mostly
positive and ranged from 0.01 to 0.45. Correlation analysis showed mostly negative and much weaker
association between SO2 measured at different monitoring sites (R = -0.02 to -0.21). O3 demonstrated the
strongest positive correlation between different monitoring sites and ranged from 0.55 to 0.86. The
correlation coefficients of CO monitored at different monitoring sites ranged from 0.21 to 0.63, whereas
those of NO and NO2 ranged from 0.39 to 0.71 and 0.20 to 0.60, respectively. The strongest spatial
correlation of O3 is probably due to the fact that O3 is a regional pollutant and is more related to the regional
emissions of precursors and meteorological parameters. This is the first attempt to analyse the spatial
variability of air pollutants in Makkah, however the study is based over a shorter period of time, therefore
further work is required to analyse these trends over a greater range of time and space.
Keywords: Spatial-temporal analysis, air pollution, Makkah, NOx, PM10.
1. Introduction
Air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental problems and is among the critical challenges
facing the modern societies. Air pollution is responsible for significant harmful effects on human health and
environment. Furthermore, air pollution is responsible for climate change due to greenhouse effect, acid rain,
and the depletion of the ozone layer [1]-[3]. In Makkah, most of the combustion related-air pollutants (e.g.,
sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) – the sum of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2),
carbon monoxide (CO), and Hydrocarbons (HC)) are predominantly emitted by road traffic [4]. Particulate
matters in Makkah are emitted by awide range of sources, which include road traffic, construction work,
resuspension of dust particles, and windblown sand and dust particles [5], [6]. In addition to emission
sources, air pollutant concentrations are affected by meteorological parameters (e.g., wind, temperature,
rainfall) [7]-[9], which can influence the transport, dispersion and chemical reactions of air pollutants.
Several authors, including [5], [7], [10]-[13] have studied air pollutant levels in Makkah and in the
surrounding areas. Most of them have focused mainly on particulate matter and have reported high levels of
particles in Makkah, particularly during the Hajj period. However, some other air pollutants (e.g., NO2, NO,
O3, HC, and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC)) have also been investigated [12]. Makkah is a densely
populated city and during the Hajj season and the month of Ramadhan several million people visit the city
from all over the world to perform Hajj and Umrah. Therefore it is important to assess the levels of various
pollutants and investigate their spatial and temporal variability in Makkah during the Hajj season.
2014 5th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology
IPCBEE vol.69 (2014) © (2014) IACSIT Press, Singapore
DOI: 10.7763/IPCBEE. 2014. V69. 14
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It is important to characterise the spatial and temporal variations in order to locate the hotspots where air
quality standards are exceeded and determine the factors responsible. Recently [5] quantified long-term
temporal trends in air pollutant levels in Makkah using data from one monitoring stations, where several
pollutants demonstrated positive trends. In this paper the aim is to analyse spatial-temporal variability of air
pollutants in Makkah. Limited data are available for spatial analysis, which were collected during the Hajj
(Pilgrimage) season 2012, when over 3 millions pilgrims visited Makkah. The high number of people within
a limited area further highlights the importance of clean air and of investigation into air quality related issues
in Makkah.
2. Materials and Methods
This study was conducted at the Hajj Research Institute (HRI), Umm Al-Qura University in the Holy
City of Makkah during the Hajj season 1433 (October 2012). The air pollutants considered in this project
were CO mg/m3, SO2 µg/m
3, O3 µg/m
3, NO µg/m
3, NO2 µg/m
3 and PM10 µg/m
3 (Particulate Matter with
aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less). The air quality data used in this paper were collected at four
monitoring stations in Makkah (Fig. 1). The monitoring stations were: (a) Presidency of Meteorology and
Environment (PME) near the Holy Mosque (Al-Haram); (b) Masfalah; (c) Rabwaa in Mina and (d) Near
Medical Centre in Mina. The PME and Masfalah are continuous monitoring stations, however the other two
stations in Mina were installed temporarily during the Hajj days from 20th to 31st October 2012. For more
details regarding air quality monitoring network in Makkah see [4], [5], [7]. Mean, maximum and standard
deviation (given in parentheses) of the air pollutants at various monitoring stations are shown in Table 1.
Statistical data analysis was carried out in the statistical software R programming language [14] and its
packages openair [15]. In addition to graphical presentations, correlation analysis and analysis of variance
are used to investigate the similarities and dissimilarities between various monitoring sites.
Fig. 1: The four monitoring stations in Makkah.
Table 1: Mean, maximum, and standard deviations (given in parentheses) of hourly concentrations of air pollutants at
the 4 monitoring stations.
Pollutant/
Site
Rabwaa Medical PME Masfalah
Mean Max Mean Max Mean Max Mean Max
CO mg/m3 1.8 (±0.9) 5.8 0.8 (±0.4) 3.1 1.2 (±0.6) 4.3 1.4 (±0.8) 8.1
O3 µg/m3 51.9 (±39.2) 276.0 39.9 (±33.7) 149.5 49.2 (±34.1) 133.5 49.4 (±34.9) 139.6
NO2 µg/m3 62.6 (±24.6) 199.8 58.3 (±34.7) 179.0 47.1 (±26.6) 218.5 37.6 (±14.1) 94.9
NO µg/m3 33.5 (±30.9) 271.0 39.1 (±61.6) 314.8 12.0 (±15.2) 93.8 38.4 (±38.8) 255.0
SO2 µg/m3 10.9 (±10.6) 106.0 25.3 (±34.3) 172.4 4.8 (±2.2) 12.5 17.8 (±13.6) 84.5
PM10 µg/m3 194.5 (±108.8) 743.8 113.7 (±99.9) 502.3 162.4(±96.7) 615.2 143.4(±49.9) 489.0
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3. Results and Discussions
The analysis of variance showed significant difference (p-value < 0.05) between various monitoring sites,
and also between various dates. The highest average PM10 concentration was observed at the Rabwaa site
and lowest at the Medical centre in Mina (see Table 1). The highest average O3, CO and NO2 concentrations
were also observed at Rabwaa site. Average of maximum concentrations for all air pollutants was also
highest at the Rabwaa monitoring site, followed by the Medical Centre. Both of these sites are situated in
Mina, where pilgrims stay for several days during Hajj.
Fig. 2 shows the weekly cycles of various air pollutants at the four monitoring sites. The plots show
considerable variations during the weekly cycles in both space and time. Lowest NO2 concentration was
observed at Masfalah site, particularly on Thursday (25th of October, the day of Arafah) and highest at
Rabwaa and Medical centre. In case of NO, lowest concentration was observed at the PME site on Thursday
and highest at the Medical Centre on Friday. Medical Centre also experienced the highest concentration of
SO2 on Thursday. Highest concentrations of CO, O3 and PM10 were observed at Rabwaa. On Thursday (the
day of Arafah) in the morning all pilgrims move from Mina (or from their houses in Makkah) to Arafat. On
this morning Mina is very busy in terms of traffic, whereas the Masfalah and the Holy Mosques areas are
quieter, which probably explains why Masfalah demonstrated the lowest concentration of traffic related air
pollutants, whereas Medical centre and Rabwaa demonstrated higher concentrations on this day.
The diurnal cycles (Fig. 3) demonstrate considerable variations from site to site. Apart from some minor
variations, generally on the basis of the pattern in their diurnal cycles, NO, NO2 and CO can be put in one
group, whereas other pollutants exhibit different diurnal cycles from each other. NO, NO2 and CO are
combustion-related air pollutants and are predominantly emitted by road traffic. These pollutants show
highest concentrations in the morning traffic-peak hours (8:00 – 9:00 hours) and lowest during the afternoon.
On the other hand, SO2 although is mostly emitted by combustion process, its diurnal cycle is different to
that of NOx and CO. Sulphur content of gasoline has significantly reduced since 2005 [15] due to strict
government regulation to improve air quality in Saudi Arabia. However, crude oil and coal burning might be
contributing to the observed concentration of SO2 in Makkah. Except PME, the rest of the 3 sites show peak
SO2 concentrations during late afternoon (16:00 to 17:00 hours). All four sites show different diurnal cycles
of SO2 concentrations. O3 concentrations are higher during the afternoon (about 12:00 to 18:00 hours) and
lower during night and early morning hours. During nighttimes due to the absence of solar radiation
photochemical O3 formation stops and O3 levels are further reduced due to dry deposition (loss of O3
molecules to ground surfaces, plant leaves and other materials) and NOx scavenging effects (NO + O3
NO2 + O). Diurnal cycles of PM10 also vary at different monitoring sites, however generally bimodal diurnal
cycles can be observed at most of the sites: a peak in the morning and a peak in the afternoon, as explained
by [4]. It is worth mentioning that particulate matters in Makkah, which is situated in an arid region have
various emission sources [4], [5], the most dominant sources are the re-suspended and windblown dust and
sand particles. Therefore particulate concentration is more related to wind speed and wind direction rather
than to traffic flow.
Correlation analysis was performed to investigate the association between various air pollutants
monitored at different monitoring sites. Correlation coefficients (R) between PM10 concentrations measured
at different monitoring sites are mostly positive but not very strong (R < 0.5). Strongest correlation was
observed between Rabwaa and PME (R = 0.45) and weakest between Masfalah and Medical Centre (R =
0.01). Negative correlation was observed between PME and Medical centre (R= -0.20) and Rabwaa and
Medical centre (R=-0.27). Correlation analysis showed mostly negative and much weaker association
between SO2 measured at different monitoring sites. SO2 is probably emitted by crude oils burning which
takes place locally in some areas and probably this is the reason why SO2 has very weak spatial correlation
between different monitoring sites. Strongest correlation was observed between Rabwaa and PME (R = -
0.21). O3 demonstrated the strongest positive correlation between different monitoring sites and ranged from
0.55 to 0.86, where the weakest correlation was observed between Rabwaa and Medical centre and strongest
between Masfalah and PME sites. The strongest correlation of O3 is probably due to the fact that O3 is a
regional pollutant and is more related to the regional emissions of precursors and meteorological parameters
(e.g., solar radiation and temperature). Although O3 concentration is affected by local NO, which is a local 67
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sink for O3, however the regional component seems to play the dominant role here. The correlation
coefficients of CO monitored at different monitoring sites ranged from 0.21 to 0.63, whereas those of NO
and NO2 ranged from 0.39 to 0.71 and 0.20 to 0.60, respectively. This study provides an insight into the
spatial variations of various air pollutants during the Hajj period, however to understand the long term spatial
variation of these pollutants further investigation is required over a longer period of time and greater spatial
coverage.
Fig. 2: Weekly cycles of various air pollutants at the four monitoring stations. Mas stands for Masfalah, rab for Rabwaa,
med for Medical, and pme for the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment monitoring station. The data shown are
from 20th
to 31st of October 2012.
Fig. 3: Diurnal cycles of various air pollutants at the 4 monitoring sites. Mas stands for Masfalah, rab for Rabwaa, med
for Medical, and pme for the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment monitoring station. The data shown are from
20th
to 31st of October 2012.
4. Conclusion
In this paper the aim was to analyse the spatial and temporal trends of air pollutants in Makkah during
the Hajj season 1433 (October 2012). Hourly data from 4 monitoring stations situated within Makkah are
used. Graphical presentations, correlation analysis, and analysis of variance demonstrated that air pollutant
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concentrations varied significantly within Makkah during the study period at different monitoring sites. Most
of the pollutants, understandably, showed positive spatial correlation, except SO2, where the association
between different sites was negative. O3 showed the strongest correlation between different monitoring sites,
probably because O3 is a secondary pollutant and its concentrations are more affected by meteorological
conditions and regional precursor emissions, rather than by local sinks and sources. Being the first of its kind,
this study provides a good insight into the spatial and temporal variability of air pollutants in Makkah,
however the limited number of monitoring sites (4) and shorter study period (20th to 31
st October, 2012) may
limit its applicability. Therefore, further research over extended period of time and greater number of
monitoring stations, is recommended, which is part of the ongoing research project.
5. Acknowledgements
Authores are thankful to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institiute for Hajj and Ummrah
research for supporting this project. Many thanks are extended to the Presedency of Meteorology and
Environmnet for providing air quality data.
6. References
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