A feasibility study of using Mahshahr city’s meteorological and air quality data to evaluate air pollution

An accurate estimation of air quality and meteorological conditions is required to make the sound air pollution management decisions. Thus, the data analysis from monitoring stations is unavoidable in air pollution research.  The present study uses the statistical tests to survey the homogeneity of meteorological factors and air quality station data in Mahshahr.

At first, a decade's worth of meteorological station data and the data from air quality stations in Mahshahr were collected over 2016-2019. The minimum and maximum values, standard deviation, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of parameters were then calculated, and heterogeneities and improbable fluctuations in the data were examined.

The results indicated that an average of 12% of data from the meteorological station in the special region were invalid, and that the data from this station had a non-normal distribution. Moreover, 98% of meteorological data collected at Mahshahr airport were valid which had a normal distribution. Statistical analysis of pollutant concentration data from air quality stations revealed that among 21 pollutants monitored across four air quality stations in the study region, only PM2.5 in Mahshahr station, NO2 in the mobile station, and CO, O3 in the special region fix station yielded normal distributed data.

Consequently, when compared to other regional stations, the data from special zone's fixed air quality station, and Mahshahr meteorological station were the most reliable, with an average invalid data percentage of 16.4 and 0.48, respectively. Finally, it is recommended that the data should be adjusted to a more normal distribution over the desired period before using the data from other stations.