Characterization of PM2.5/PM10 ratios over Eastern Part of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain from 2008 to 2019

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) pollution has major impacts on human health and environmental resources. The sources for coarse PM (PM10) and fine PM (PM2.5) are either natural or anthropogenic. This study investigates the PM2.5/PM10 ratios over Eastern part of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain from 2008 to 2019. This work utilized satellite derived PM10 and PM2.5 air quality data. The monthly mean datasets for PM10 and PM2.5 were obtained using NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) model at selected seven zones. A transboundary region for data acquisition included four zones from Bahrain and three zones from Eastern Saudi Arabia (KSA). Results showed that the highest PM2.5/PM10 ratio was observed at Zone B1 in Bahrain with a value of 0.353. The findings highlighted the possible contribution of PM2.5 emissions from the densely located industries at Northern East part of Bahrain.