Concentrations, sources and exposure risks associated with particulate matter in the Middle East Area—a review

Abstract

Rapid economic expansion, industrialization, urbanisation and construction in the Middle East Area (MEA) have led to an increase in the levels of air pollution, resulting in serious effects on human health. For the first time, this article provides a comprehensive synthesis of the currently available published information which deals with atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in MEA. The focus of the article remains on the PM sources, monitoring, health impacts and source apportionment.The key objectives are to identify the levels of PM pollution and the associated exposure risks, to highlight research gaps and to discuss future research directions. The limited number of monitoring studies available for MEA indicates that dust storms augmented by the rapid increase in urban population are the key reasons for the high PM concentration levels. The findings of reviewed monitoring studies suggest that the levels of both annual mean PM 10 (20 μg/m 3 ) and PM 2.5 (10 μg/m 3 ) concentrations exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines during most of the non-dust storm episodes, and as expected, the PM pollution levels become even higher during dust storm episodes. For example, 24-h mean PM 10 concentrations of over 1,000 μg/m 3 were noted during a severe dust storm episode in Kuwait. The findings of the epidemiological and toxicological studies in MEA have shown that dust storm events have a significant impact on respiratory admissions and the adverse health effects of PM are particularly in the form of asthma and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It is concluded that PM pollution in MEA is a significant problem and quantification of PM emissions and the design of control measures to abate their impacts on public health are of primary importance. Besides, there is a need for more systematic PM data collection for source apportionment and assessment of PM levels that would enable air pollution-related health impact assessments of MEA. Furthermore, this review highlights that the release of airborne PM from major building activities such as building construction is largely unknown and emission inventories for different situations are needed.

Sources of PM<sub>2.5</sub> carbonaceous aerosol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…In prior studies conducted in the Middle East, dust was identified as the major source of PM 10 (Givehchi et al, 2013); however, contributions from anthropogenic sources to PM mass concentrations were found to be significant (> 82 % of total PM 10 mass, Al-Dabbous and Kumar, 2015; > 50 % of PM 10 , Tsiouri et al, 2015). Tsiouri et al (2015) summarized the major sources of PM 10 in ambient air in the Middle East as oil combustion, resuspended soil, road traffic, crustal dust, and marine aerosol; significant sources of PM 2.5 were oil combustion in power plants, resuspended soil, sand dust, and road traffic. Carbonaceous particles were estimated to account for 50-60 % of PM 2.5 in cities in the State of Palestine, Jordan, and Israel (Abdeen et al, 2014).…”

Impact of atmospheric dust emission schemes on dust production and concentration over the Arabian Peninsula

“…In arid and semi-arid regions a large part of PM 10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 lm) is comprised of crustal material from dust emissions (Tsiouri et al 2015). Dust aerosols can either originate locally or transported from thousands of kilometers away (Prospero et al 2002).…”

Loading Rates of Dust and Metals in Residential Houses of Arid and Dry Climatic Regions

“…well as those resulted from industrial, agricultural, or natural sources (Kumar et al, 2013;Rasmussen et al, 2013). In the Middle East region, a major external source of indoor pollution is soil or dust particles that are loaded naturally or anthropogenically with hazardous chemicals and settle down in indoor environments (Al-Dabbous and Kumar, 2014;Tsiouri et al, 2014). Such soil particles constitute "house dust", which is defined as "a complex mixture of biologically derived material (such as animal dander and fungal spores), particulate matter (PM) deposited from the indoor aerosol, and soil particles brought in by the foot traffic (USEPA, 2011)".…”