Spatial and temporal characteristics of air pollutants concentrations in industrial area

Abstract

Quantification of the spatial and temporal variations of ambient air pollutant concentrations provides the information for epidemiological and other air-pollution studies and many have relied in the past on data from a single, centrally-located air pollution monitoring site. Particular matter (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3) were measured at 3 monitoring sites around a densely populated industrial zone which is at Nilai, Petaling Jaya and Seberang Perai. The observations were obtained over five year period from 2008 to 2012. From the descriptive statistic shows that the peak concentration of PM10 occurs during the dry season which is coincided with the Southwest monsoon and also due to direct-influence of Southwest winds and had caused a slightly moderate haze in Southeast Asia. From the Pearson correlation method, among the meteorological parameters, ambient temperature indicates the strongest positive correlation to the PM10 concentration and proves that the ambient temperature tent to contribute significantly to high PM10 concentrations as high as in Southwest monsoon. The backward trajectories of atmospheric pollutants were determined to indicate the potential sources contributing to the pollutant during the high concentration days. The temperature and wind direction, more notably from the Southwest monsoon can also effect the concentration of PM10 in the atmosphere and that the Southwest monsoon wind from Sumatra can arrive at all three monitoring stations within 96 hours. The influence of the direction and frequency of the wind during one year of distribution was certainly seen and results in biomass burning in Sumatra, Indonesia. The effect of wind speed on primary air pollutants and the contribution to the particulate matter PM10 concentration in the atmosphere also needs to be researched and identified.