The Impact of Weather Parameters on Atmospheric PM2.5 at Al-Hasan Industrial Zone, East of Irbid- Jordan

Particulate Matters less than 2.5 micrometers (often referred to as PM2.5) were measured in Al - Hassan Industrial Estate (HIE) in Irbid city, 72 Km north of Amman, the capital of Jordan. Data sets on the PM2.5 emissions and meteorological conditions were collected over 6 years (from March 2010 to December 2016) by Jordan Ministry of Environment. The present paper studies the effects of the meteorological conditions on PM2.5 levels. It is found that the largest average concentration of PM2.5 is 39.77 μg/m3 with standard deviation 49.42μg/m3 which occurred in 2013, while the smallest average concentration of PM2.5 is 22.2 μg/m3 with standard deviation of 25.99 μg/m3 which occurred in 2016; this is due to the positive relationship of PM2.5 with temperature and its negative relationship with humidity. Furthermore, we conducted a nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis (KW) test to compare the average PM2.5 level in working and nonworking hours. The KW test produced a p-value=0( 0.05), which indicates higher average PM2.5 levels in working hours. The data indicate that the yearly average of PM2.5 levels exceed the permissible limits of the Jordanian standards ambient air quality for the records of all years. Pronounced seasonal variation indicates that the PM2.5 levels were generally higher in the summer months than its levels in the winter months, which means that the meteorological conditions have a significant impact on the PM2.5 concentrations in the study site.