The Relationship between Landscape Pattern and Dispersion of PM2.5 in Isfahan city

Regarding the status of air pollution in Isfahan, this study aims to evaluate the air quality of Isfahan due to Particulate Matter and find the relationship between landscape patterns and suspended particles.

to measure the concentration of the suspended particles using a Met One dust meter in 52 points, the city was randomly sampled. The land use map of Isfahan city was prepared after downloading satellite images from the site of the United States Geological Survey. The land use map was generated in six classes with the maximum likelihood classification method in Terrset software. To create the distribution map of suspended particles, the information of 52 stations and inverse distance weighting method in ArcGIS 10.5 was used. Landscape metrics (Normalized Entropy, Edge Density, Patch Area, Relative Richness, and Patch Compactness) were used to quantify the pattern of landscape. The landscape metrics were quantified using FRAGSTATS software.

The results showed that vegetation has a reducing effect on air pollution. A positive and significant correlation was observed between the amount of suspended particles and relative richness. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was observed between PM2.5 and (NDVI), which means that the amount of suspended particles decreased with increasing vegetation density. 

In general, by calculating the concentration of suspended particles in Isfahan, it was found that the southwest, south, and southeast are exposed to more suspended particles. The high density of green space landscaping leads to a reduction of particulate matter pollution. From the analysis of changes in suspended particles in the region, it was inferred that the more we move to areas with weaker vegetation, the higher the concentration of suspended particles.