Ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) samples were collected from January to December 2007 to investigate the sources and chemical speciation in Palestine, Jordan, and Israel. The 24-h PM2.5 ...samples were collected on 6-day intervals at eleven urban and rural sites simultaneously. Major chemical components including metals, ions, and organic and elemental carbon were analyzed. The mass concentrations of PM2.5 across the 11 sites varied from 20.6 to 40.3 μg/m3, with an average of 28.7 μg/m3. Seasonal variation of PM2.5 concentrations was substantial, with higher average concentrations (37.3 μg/m3) in the summer (April–June) months compared to winter (October–December) months (26.0 μg/m3) due mainly to high contributions of sulfate and crustal components. PM2.5 concentrations in the spring were greatly impacted by regional dust storms. Carbonaceous mass was the most abundant component, contributing 40% to the total PM2.5 mass averaged across the eleven sites. Crustal components averaged 19.1% of the PM2.5 mass and sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate accounted for 16.2%, 6.4%, and 3.7%, respectively, of the total PM2.5 mass. The results of this study demonstrate the need to better protect the health and welfare of the residents on both sides of the Jordan River in the Middle East.
This manuscript evaluates spatial and temporal variations of source contributions to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian cities. Twenty-four hour integrated ...PM2.5 samples were collected every six days over a 1-year period (January to December 2007) in four cities in Israel (West Jerusalem, Eilat, Tel Aviv, and Haifa), four cities in Jordan (Amman, Aqaba, Rahma, and Zarka), and three cities in Palestine (Nablus, East Jerusalem, and Hebron). The PM2.5 samples were analyzed for major chemical components, including organic carbon and elemental carbon, ions, and metals, and the results were used in a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model to estimate source contributions to PM2.5 mass. Nine sources, including secondary sulfate, secondary nitrate, mobile, industrial lead sources, dust, construction dust, biomass burning, fuel oil combustion and sea salt, were identified across the sampling sites. Secondary sulfate was the dominant source, contributing 35% of the total PM2.5 mass, and it showed relatively homogeneous temporal trends of daily source contribution in the study area. Mobile sources were found to be the second greatest contributor to PM2.5 mass in the large metropolitan cities, such as Tel Aviv, Hebron, and West and East Jerusalem. Other sources (i.e. industrial lead sources, construction dust, and fuel oil combustion) were closely related to local emissions within individual cities. This study demonstrates how international cooperation can facilitate air pollution studies that address regional air pollution issues and the incremental differences across cities in a common airshed. It also provides a model to study air pollution in regions with limited air quality monitoring capacity that have persistent and emerging air quality problems, such as Africa, South Asia and Central America.
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•Secondary Sulfate is the dominant source of PM2.5 in the Middle East.•Secondary inorganic aerosols show relatively homogeneous temporal trends.•Other sources are largely related to local emissions within individual cities.
A study of carbonaceous particulate matter (PM) was conducted in the Middle East at sites in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. The sources and seasonal variation of organic carbon, as well as the ...contribution to fine aerosol (PM
2.5) mass, were determined. Of the 11 sites studied, Nablus had the highest contribution of organic carbon (OC), 29%, and elemental carbon (EC), 19%, to total PM
2.5 mass. The lowest concentrations of PM
2.5 mass, OC, and EC were measured at southern desert sites, located in Aqaba, Eilat, and Rachma. The OC contribution to PM
2.5 mass at these sites ranged between 9.4% and 16%, with mean annual PM
2.5 mass concentrations ranging from 21 to 25
ug
m
−3. These sites were also observed to have the highest OC to EC ratios (4.1–5.0), indicative of smaller contributions from primary combustion sources and/or a higher contribution of secondary organic aerosol. Biomass burning and vehicular emissions were found to be important sources of carbonaceous PM in this region at the non-southern desert sites, which together accounted for 30%–55% of the fine particle organic carbon at these sites. The fraction of measured OC unapportioned to primary sources (1.4
μgC
m
−3 to 4.9
μgC
m
−3; 30%–74%), which has been shown to be largely from secondary organic aerosol, is relatively constant at the sites examined in this study. This suggests that secondary organic aerosol is important in the Middle East during all seasons of the year.
The present paper reports results of a study that attempted to elucidate the factors causing relatively high levels of particulate sulfate that have frequently been observed over central Israel. ...Aircraft research flights were performed some 70 km west of and parallel to the Israeli coastline during September 1993 and June 1994. Comparison between the two measurement periods revealed a distinctive difference between the two different sampled air masses. While both air masses were nearly homogeneous throughout the measurement period and along the 180 km flight path, the air mass sampled in September 1993 was much “cleaner” than the air mass sampled during June 1994. The concentrations of the air pollutants measured during the 1993 campaign averaged 0.7±0.4 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) SO2, 1.0±0.6 ppbv NOy, 39±7 ppbv O3 and 38±7 nmol/m3 particulate sulfate, whereas in the second period the levels averaged 3.0±1.0, 3.9±1.8, 48±9, and 10 ±63, respectively. These results suggest that the two air masses traveled different paths before reaching the eastern Mediterranean region. Further examination of the air mass sources and transport were performed using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System for meteorological simulations and the Hybrid Particle and Concentration Transport Package for dispersion modeling. The model simulation showed that during the 1993 measurement period, the pollution sources in southern Europe and the Balkans did not effect the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, while the synoptic conditions and simulation results for the June 1994 period indicated that the winds over the eastern Mediterranean tended to be northwesterly and thus forcing the polluted air masses toward the coast of Israel.
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