The Interconnection among Aerosols, Urbanization and Weather

The massive increase in emissions of air pollution due to economic and industrial growth has made air pollution an environmental problem throughout the world. There exists limited literature about nature's influence on pollution. While human activities have for a long time been known to induce air pollution, the influence of nature on air pollution cannot be underestimated. This study therefore investigated the spatial-temporal characteristics of aerosols and its association with rainfall and wind variation over typical continental and typical maritime urban centers. The case study is for Nairobi city and Lamu town in Kenya. The study utilized daily wind speed and direction, population data, land surface reflectivity, aerosol optical thickness and rainfall data. Population and land surface reflectivity were used as indicators of urbanization. Air pollutants concentration and dispersion were simulated by the aid of Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. These findings will be useful in both research and for operation and they form a benchmark for maintenance of low pollution levels in established and developing cities.