Spatial and Temporal Evaluation of the Frequency of Thunderstorms and their Effects on PM2.5 Distribution over Baghdad and Basra Airdromes
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Abstract
Particulate matter 2.5 is one of the primary components of air pollution. Sources of PM2.5 may be natural or anthropogenic. The main sources of the pollutants in Iraq include burning natural gas, oil, and power plants. The study is based on archived datasets from the Iraqi Meteorological Organization and Seismology and satellite data available from ECMWF and NASA for a ten-year period in Baghdad and Basra Airdromes. The spatial and temporal analysis showed that the highest frequency of thunderstorms occurs in April about 64.03%. The highest annual frequency of thunderstorms was for Baghdad Airport station in 2018 and 2002 (20 days) and Basra Airport station in 2003 and 2018 (13 days). The PM2.5 concentration at Baghdad Airport and Basra Airport stations prior to, during, and following the storm was of the category D of the air quality indices. The concentration kept growing without addressing the causes. It looks like the rise in PM2.5 concentrations that thunderstorms increased in the station is caused by arid thunderstorms and the storm's downdrafts, which lift dust upwards. This leads to PM2.5 concentrations remaining in the atmosphere for a longer period. As the Normalized Difference Dust Index results indicate, 90–95% of Baghdad is situated in areas with moderate dust levels for the period 2000-2019, while 95% or more of Basra is situated in areas with moderate to high dust levels for the same period.
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