The Influence of Meteorological Parameters on PM10: A Statistical Analysis of an Urban and Rural Environment in Izmir/Türkiye

Abstract

Air pollution is a substantial menace, especially in industrialized urban zones, which affects the balance of the environment, life of vital organisms and human health. Besides the main causes of air pollution such as dense urbanization, poor quality fuels and vehicle emissions, physical environment characteristics play an important role on air quality. Therefore, it is vital to understand the relationship between the characteristics of the natural environment and air quality. This study examines the correlations between the PM10 pollutant data and meteorological parameters such as temperature (Tair), relative humidity (RH), and wind speed (WS) and direction (WD) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project. Two different zones (Vilayetler Evi as an urban zone and Sasalı Natural Life Park as a rural zone) of Izmir Province in Türkiye are used as a case study and the PM10 data is evaluated between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2021. A one-tailed t-test is used in order to statistically determine the relationships between the PM10 pollutant data and meteorological parameters. As a further study, practical significance of the parameters is investigated via the effect size method and the results show that the RH is found to be the most influencing parameter on the PM10 for both zones, while Tair is found to be statistically non-significant.

Temperature, Humidity and Air Pollution Relationships during a Period of Rainy and Dry Seasons in Lagos, West Africa

“…Studies on the association of PM concentration levels and the meteorological parameters are common as PM is considered impactful [5][6][7]. The results from the evaluation of the temperature and humidity effects on PM concentrations in Auckland, New Zealand showed that the temperature values had a negative correlation with the PM 10 concentration values over a diurnal period and that the relative humidity generally presented a positive correlation with PM 10 , but this correlation ceased beyond the 75% relative humidity value [5].…”

“…The natural deposition of PM is affected by relative humidity and atmospheric PM concentration increases as the moisture particles adhere to PM [5]; this study was carried out over an eight-week period. The influences of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction on PM 10 concentrations were evaluated in a study in urban and rural environments in ˙Izmir, Türkiye [6]. The levels of relative humidity were found to be the most influencing factors on the PM 10 concentration levels in both the urban and rural environments, however the recorded temperature values were not found to have any statistically significant effect on the PM 10 concentration levels.…”

“…The levels of relative humidity were found to be the most influencing factors on the PM 10 concentration levels in both the urban and rural environments, however the recorded temperature values were not found to have any statistically significant effect on the PM 10 concentration levels. The researchers indicated that incorporating further meteorological parameters such as atmospheric pressure and precipitation would improve the regression models presented in the study [6].…”

Impact of COVID-19 Restriction Measures on Ambient PM10 Concentrations during Universiti Putra Malaysia Convocation

“…ambient temperature (AT), relative humidity (RH) and wind speed (WS) as well as traffic volume (TV). Meteorological parameters were considered in this study due to the influential factors on PM10 levels [8]. Meanwhile, TV was also considered in the study as a significant source of air pollutants due to the higher number of vehicles during the event.…”