INHALABLE PARTICULATES AND METEOROLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CITY OF RIYADH, SAUDI-ARABIA

Ambient inhalable particulates (IP) have been sampled in the city of Riyadh by means of a fixed sampling site using an automatic dichotomous sampler. The concentration of fine particulates (0-2.5 μm aerodynamic diameter), coarse particles (2.5-15 μm aerodynamic diameter) and total (fine plus coarse) IP were determined. The meteorological variables were recorded during the sampling process. The samples were analyzed by means of the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer for the metals: Al, As, Cu, Fe, Pb, Ca, K, Mg and Na. Statistical analysis using the multilinear regression technique (Sigstat Package) has been carried out to correlate the concentration of particulate matter with the several meteorological variables. It was determined that the wind speed and atmospheric pressure could be used to predict the concentration of Al, As, Cu, Fe and Pb particulates, whereas wind speed, atmospheric pressure and r.h. could be used to predict the concentration of Ca, K, Mg and Na. The concentrations of atmospheric fine, coarse and total IP matter were found to be high compared to accepted standards. The highest correlation coefficients obtained from the regression analysis were for Fe, Pb and As. The low correlation coefficients for Ca, K, Mg and Na suggest that some significant parameters which are correlated with them may have not been considered in the analysis. Wind speed was shown to have positive correlation with Fe and Al, but negative correlation with Pb. © 1990.