oa Measurement And Modeling Of Traffic-Related No2 Pollution In Doha, Qatar

The United Nations (UN) estimated that over 600 million people in urban areas were exposed to dangerous levels of traffic-generated air pollutants worldwide. Currently, there is no published literature available on the levels of air pollutants, specifically NO2, due to traffic in Doha-Qatar. According to the recent reports there are more 800,000 cars registered in Qatar. This relatively high number of cars brings in problems associated with increased level of pollution. Therefore, in this study the levels of traffic related air NO2 pollution were investigated at six major intersections along C-ring road of Doha. NO2 is considered to be a marker of vehicular pollution, thus, its relationship was established with traffic volume in each intersection during December 2012 and March-April 2013. Significant differences were established between the pollutant concentration in each intersection. Higher concentrations were observed in areas with high traffic volume. Additionally, meteorological conditions were also found to influence the NO2 levels along with the topographical structure within the area. The CALINE 4 model employed during the study to estimate the effect of the measured NO2 concentration on the predicted value was only 31.12 %. The low percentage may have accounted for the uncertainties brought about the vehicle emission factor and non-availability of temporal dynamics during the time of sampling.