Evaluation of the Air Quality in Arid Climate Megacities. (Case Study: Greater Cairo)

Abstract

Abstract The accelerated urbanization in developing counties in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region increases exposure to outdoor air pollution. This work aims to evaluate the ambient air quality in the Greater Cairo area (GC) as one of the largest megacities in the MENA region. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified GC as the largest polluted city in the MENA region. Exploratory data analysis (EDA) was used to assess the pollutants data and meteorological data to show the impacts of weather factors on ambient air quality in the study area. The results show that GC suffers from particle matter (PM) pollutants for both long-term and short-term exposure. The short-term exposure to gaseous pollutants did not exceed the guidelines, however, the long-term did in some traffic areas. The weather and terrain show significant impacts on the temporal and spatial variation of pollutants observations. Most ambient air pollution issues in the MENA region are due to its natural sources and traffic.