Repository logo
 

Sources of PM2.5 carbonaceous aerosol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBian, Qijing
dc.contributor.authorAlharbi, Badr
dc.contributor.authorShareef, Mohammed M.
dc.contributor.authorHusain, Tahir
dc.contributor.authorPasha, Mohammad J.
dc.contributor.authorAtwood, Samuel A.
dc.contributor.authorKreidenweis, Sonia M.
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-26T18:22:11Z
dc.date.available2018-02-26T18:22:11Z
dc.date.issued2018-02-20
dc.descriptionTo study the sources of carbonaceous aerosol affecting air quality in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, we conducted sampling of PM2.5 from April to September, 2012 at various sites in the city, and used a thermo-optical semi-continuous method to quantify the organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations. Our datasets include the raw data and corrected OCEC concentrations, PM10 metal concentrations, and gas-phase O3 and NOx concentrations.
dc.descriptionData set used in the study.en_US
dc.descriptionDepartment of Atmospheric Science
dc.description.abstractKnowledge of the sources of carbonaceous aerosol affecting air quality in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is limited, but needed for the development of pollution control strategies. We conducted sampling of PM2.5 from April to September, 2012 at various sites in the city, and used a thermo-optical semi-continuous method to quantify the organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations. The average OC and EC concentrations were 4.7 ± 4.4 and 2.1 ± 2.5 µg m-3, respectively, during this period. Both OC and EC concentrations had strong diurnal variations, with peaks at 6-8 am and 20-22 pm, attributed to the combined effect of increased vehicle emissions during rush hour and the shallow boundary layer in the early morning and at night. This finding suggested a significant influence of local vehicular emissions on OC and EC. The OC/EC ratio in primary emissions was estimated to be 1.01, close to documented values for diesel emissions. Estimated primary (POC) and secondary (SOC) organic carbon concentrations were comparable, with average concentrations of 2.0 ± 2.4 and 2.8 ± 3.4 µg m-3, respectively. We also collected 24 hour samples of PM10 onto quartz microfiber filters and analyzed these for an array of metals by ICP-OES. Total OC was correlated with Ca (R2 of 0.63), suggesting that OC precursors and Ca may have similar sources, and the possibility that they underwent similar atmospheric processing. In addition to a ubiquitous dust source, Ca is emitted during desalting processes in the numerous refineries in the region and from cement kilns, suggesting these sources may also contribute to observed OC concentrations in Riyadh. Concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis showed that high OC and EC concentrations were associated with air masses arriving from the Persian Gulf and the region around Baghdad, locations with high densities of oil fields and refineries as well as a large Saudi Arabian cement plant. We further applied positive matrix factorization to the aligned data set of EC, OC and metal concentrations (Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb and V). Three factors were derived, and were proposed to be associated with oil combustion, industrial emissions (Pb-based), and a combined source from oil fields, cement production, and local vehicular emissions. The dominant OC and EC source was the combined source, contributing 3.9 µg m-3 (80%) to observed OC and 1.9 µg m-3 (92%) to observed EC.en_US
dc.description.awardThe authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) under grant number 32-594 and the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and READY website (http://www.ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication.
dc.format.mediumZIP
dc.format.mediumCSV
dc.format.mediumPDF
dc.format.mediumTXT
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/186141
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.25675/10217/186141
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartofResearch Data
dc.relation.isreferencedbySources of PM2.5 carbonaceous aerosol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Qijing Bian et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 3969–3985, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3969-2018
dc.subjectPM2.5
dc.subjectRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
dc.subjectcarbonaceous aerosol
dc.subjectsources
dc.titleSources of PM2.5 carbonaceous aerosol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabiaen_US
dc.typeDataset

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
ECOC_data_archive20180226.zip
Size:
35.16 MB
Format:
Zip File
Description:
EC,OC, NOx, O3 and metal data from April to September, 2012 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.05 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Research Data
Research Data