Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM2.5 in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia
Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 3114–3129, 2016 Copyright © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research ISSN: 1680-8584 print / 2071-1409 online doi: 10.4209/aaqr.2015.11.0658 Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM2.5 in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia Shedrack R. Nayebare1,2, Omar S. Aburizaiza3**, Haider A. Khwaja1,2*, Azhar Siddique4, Mirza M. Hussain1,2, Jahan Zeb2, Fida Khatib3, David O. Carpenter5, Donald R. Blake6 1 Department of Environ. Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12201, USA 2 Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12201, USA 3 Unit for Ain Zubaida Rehabilitation & Ground Water Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 4 Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar 5 Institute for the Health and the Environment, University at Albany, 5 University Place, Rensselaer, NY 12144, USA 6 Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA 92617, USA ABSTRACT The present study describes the measurement, chemical characterization and delineation of sources of fine particulate th th matter (PM2.5) in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia. The 24-h PM2.5 was collected from May 6 –June 17 , 2013. The sources of various air pollutants and their characterization was carried by computations of Enrichment Factor (EF), Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and Backward-in-time Trajectories. The 24-h PM2.5 showed significant temporal variability with –3 –3 2– – + – average (37 ± 16.2 µg m ) exceeding the WHO guideline (20 µg m ) by 2 fold. SO4 , NO3 , NH4 and Cl ions dominated the ionic components.
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