Journal of Pollution Effects & Control
Open Access
ISSN: 2375-4397
ISSN: 2375-4397
Kim Yeyzleen Macarasig and James Bernard Simpas
Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
Manila Observatory, Philippines
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Pollut Eff Cont
Rainfall is a natural mechanism that is known to reduce atmospheric particulate pollution. Counter intuitively, some studies exhibit an unusual increase of fine particulate matter (PM) during rain events. The reason for these extraordinary events is still unclear. This study presents an investigation of these PM enhancement events through the link between atmospheric aerosols with observable meteorological parameters. The events considered in this study were observed within the intensive measurement campaign called the Manila Aerosol Characterization Experiment (MACE 2015). During this campaign, there were a total of 10 short rain events of which six are analyzed herein. Different runs of principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted on different aerosol and meteorological parameters. The results showed that the main PM enhancement is correlated with high relative humidity, decrease in temperature, and high vehicle volume. These results may be attributed to the fact that higher levels of relative humidity and decreases in ambient air temperature favor the formation of new particles and may result in increased condensation on already formed particles making them grow further. This study is an attempt to unravel the curious case of the fine particulate matter enhancement during the wet season in Manila and broaden the existing knowledge of the role of atmospheric and physical processes on the behavior of PM after rain events. This study may also provide insight on these events for input into atmospheric models.