Variation of selected air quality indicators over the city of Beirut, Lebanon : Assessment of emission sources

Abstract It is well established that the Mediterranean region experiences high pollution episodes as a result of its closed location and hot-humid long summers. However, few long-term field measurements have been conducted along the Eastern Mediterranean coast in general and in Arab countries, in particular. Hence, a six-month field study of major indicators like CO, SO 2 , PM 10 and O 3 were conducted in Beirut, Lebanon. Measurements on an upwind site showed that the monthly average concentrations of CO, SO 2 and O 3 were lower than the USEPA air quality standards while the monthly average concentrations of PM 10 were higher. Diurnal variations showed that vehicle-induced emissions contribute significantly to CO levels while winter heaters constitute the major source of SO 2 . High diurnal and nocturnal levels of PM 10 and O 3 are the results of several local and long-range transport phenomena.

[1]  J. Bartzis,et al.  Mediterranean rural ozone characteristics around the urban area of Athens , 2000 .

[2]  M Massoud,et al.  Particulate matter in urban areas: health-based economic assessment. , 2000, The Science of the total environment.

[3]  M. El-Fadel,et al.  Impacts of Traffic-Induced Lead Emissions on Air, Soil and Blood Lead Levels in Beirut , 2004, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[4]  A. Riga-Karandinos,et al.  Comparative assessment of ambient air quality in two typical Mediterranean coastal cities in Greece. , 2005, Chemosphere.

[5]  J. Lelieveld,et al.  Global Air Pollution Crossroads over the Mediterranean , 2002, Science.

[6]  H. Bingemer,et al.  Biogenic sulphate generation in the Mediterranean Sea and its contribution to the sulphate anomaly in the aerosol over Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean , 2000 .

[7]  S C Lee,et al.  Indoor air quality at restaurants with different styles of cooking in metropolitan Hong Kong. , 2001, The Science of the total environment.

[8]  K. V. S. Badarinath,et al.  Correlation between black carbon aerosols, carbon monoxide and tropospheric ozone over a tropical urban site , 2004 .

[9]  S. Glavas.  Surface ozone and NOx concentrations at a high altitude Mediterranean site, Greece , 1999 .

[10]  N. El-Hougeiri,et al.  Correlation of Indoor-Outdoor Air Quality in Urban Areas , 2004 .

[11]  T. Elbir,et al.  Evaluation of some air pollution indicators in Turkey. , 2000, Environment international.

[12]  M. Andreae,et al.  Local and regional contributions to the atmospheric aerosol over Tel Aviv, Israel: a case study using elemental, ionic and organic tracers , 2004 .

[13]  D. Voutsa,et al.  Ionic composition of PM(10) in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece. , 2003, Chemosphere.

[14]  Kostas Tsigaridis,et al.  Temporal variations of surface regional background ozone over Crete Island in the southeast Mediterranean , 2000 .

[15]  Mutasem El-Fadel,et al.  TRANSPORTATION GHG EMISSIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. THE CASE OF LEBANON , 1999 .

[16]  Mutasem El-Fadel,et al.  AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT AT A CONGESTED URBAN INTERSECTION , 2000 .

[17]  Mutassem El-Fadel,et al.  Environmental management of ozone in Beirut urban areas , 2002 .

[18]  I Mavroidis,et al.  Indoor and outdoor carbon monoxide concentration relationships at different microenvironments in the Athens area. , 2003, Chemosphere.

[19]  V. Matveev,et al.  Recirculation of polluted air masses over the East Mediterranean coast , 1997 .

[20]  Philip Demokritou,et al.  Measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 particle concentrations in Athens, Greece , 2003 .

[21]  J. Carretero,et al.  Assessment of ozone variations and meteorological effects in an urban area in the Mediterranean Coast. , 2002, The Science of the total environment.

[22]  Nesreen Ghaddar,et al.  Uncertainty in estimating and mitigating industrial related GHG emissions , 2001 .

[23]  Yang-sheng Liu,et al.  Wintertime indoor air levels of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 at public places and their contributions to TSP. , 2004, Environment international.

[24]  Xiao-Feng Huang,et al.  Measurement of emissions of fine particulate organic matter from Chinese cooking , 2004 .

[25]  G. Kallos,et al.  The role of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on tropospheric ozone formation over greece , 1999 .

[26]  Christos Zerefos,et al.  Benzene, toluene, ozone, NO2 and SO2 measurements in an urban street canyon in Thessaloniki, Greece , 2002 .

[27]  N. Saliba,et al.  Seasonal, diurnal and nocturnal behaviors of lower carbonyl compounds in the urban environment of Beirut, Lebanon , 2006 .

[28]  M. Erduran,et al.  Gaseous and particulate air pollutants in the Northeastern Mediterranean Coast. , 2001, The Science of the total environment.