Study the relationship between the health effects and characterization of thermal inversions in the Sultanate of Oman

This study was to investigate relationships between the thermal inversion layer and health effects that are associated with air pollution. Records of emergency visits, covering a period of one year, to Oman's Royal Hospital, due to acute respiratory diseases, were used for the study. Cases of four types of diseases, which are linked with atmospheric air pollution, were considered. Emphasis was also placed on the temperature profile data to study the characteristics of inversions. Surface-based inversions occurred almost every day of the year while cases of elevated inversions were more during the summer than during the winter months. For both types of inversions, the depths of most of the inversions did not exceed 200 m. Stronger inversions tended to occur with large inversion depths. There were significant associations between the two types of inversions and the incidence of the diseases, measured by the number of emergency hospital visits. The daily average number of hospital visits increased with increasing inversion depth and strength of surface-based inversions. In the case of elevated inversions, the summer months with a high frequency of occurrence had higher figures than the winter months, increasing significantly with the depth but not with the strength of inversion. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.