Annual Patterns of Atmospheric Pollutions and Episodes over Cairo Egypt

Abstract

The Nile Delta major cities, particularly Cairo, experienced stagnant air pollution episodes, known as Black Cloud, every year over the past decade during autumn. Low-elevated thermal inversion layers play a crucial role in intensifying pollution impacts. Carbon monoxide, ozone, atmospheric temperature, water vapor, and methane measurements from the tropospheric emission spectrometer (TES) on board the Aura have been used to assess the dominant component below the inversion layer. In this study, time series analysis, autocorrelations, and cross correlations are performed to gain a better understanding of the connections between those parameters and their local effect. Satellite-based data were obtained for the years 2005–2010. The parameters mentioned were investigated throughout the whole year in order to study the possible episodes that take place in addition to their change from year to year. Ozone and carbon monoxide were the two major indicators to the most basic episodes that occur over Cairo and the Delta region.

Analysis of aerosol absorption properties and transport over North Africa and the Middle East using AERONET data

“…A complete description of input data, methodology, equations involved, and sources of error for the calculation of the air mass trajectory is presented by Draxler and Hess (1997). Figure 5a shows the air mass back trajectory at Sedé Boqer during the black cloud local pollution episode over the Delta Region at different vertical elevations to highlight the vertical extent of local transportation (Aboel Fetouh et al, 2013;Prasad et al, 2010). El-Askary and Kafatos (2008) found that an inversion layer contributes to the trapping of aerosols and pollutants, resulting in an increase of their concentration and, hence, creating a permanent haze that can develop into a health hazard.…”

“…For instance, particle absorption characteristics are used in assessing aerosol emission sources, types, and interaction phases . Aerosol categorization also helps identify dominant aerosol types over a certain geographic location, while climatology effects due to aerosols' spatial and temporal distribution is carried out by examining aerosol sizes along with their absorption characteristics using modeling, satellites, and ground-based measurements (El-Askary, 2006;Kaskaoutis et al, 2012;Aboel Fetouh et al, 2013;Vukovic et al, 2014;Sprigg et al, 2014). It is noteworthy that Figure 1.…”

Studying the Impact on Urban Health over the Greater Delta Region in Egypt Due to Aerosol Variability Using Optical Characteristics from Satellite Observations and Ground-Based AERONET Measurements

“…Air pollution is reported as one of the most severe environmental problems for the Greater Delta region of Egypt [1][2][3]. Over the past few decades, Egypt has been introduced to numerous activities, including unplanned urbanization, air polluting industries, and energy production that contributed to excessive air pollution with gases, particulates, and aerosols at levels often exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines [3,4].…”

“…Air pollution is reported as one of the most severe environmental problems for the Greater Delta region of Egypt [1][2][3]. Over the past few decades, Egypt has been introduced to numerous activities, including unplanned urbanization, air polluting industries, and energy production that contributed to excessive air pollution with gases, particulates, and aerosols at levels often exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines [3,4]. The Greater Delta region, especially its largest city, Cairo, is a densely populated region with all of the above activities that requires a better understanding of its atmospheric aerosol characteristics considering its high aerosol loading, as well as recently more frequent emerging aerosol events occurring at all seasons, which is different from past years [1,3].…”

“…In 2007, the World Bank characterized the air quality in Cairo as the "worst" in the world with regard to particulate matter concentration [13]. Much higher and frequent air pollution episodes were recorded recently in Cairo, threatening the public health of its over 20 million population [3], since human lungs can be severely damaged by the dust, the tiny soot fragments, and pollutant particulates [14]. Besides the emission of air pollutants, naturally, Cairo is at the apex of the Nile Delta that is bounded by the Mokattam Hills and the western heights.…”