The evaluation of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 concentrations during the Middle Eastern Dust (MED) events in Ahvaz, Iran, from april through september 2010 A. Shahsavani a , K. Naddafi a, c, * , N. Jafarzade Haghighifard b , A. Mesdaghinia a , M. Yunesian a, c , R. Nabizadeh a , M. Arahami d , M.H. Sowlat a , M. Yarahmadi a , H. Saki b , M. Alimohamadi a , S. Nazmara a , S.A. Motevalian e , G. Goudarzi b a Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Enghelab St., Tehran, Iran b Department of Environmental Health, Ahvaz Jondishapoor University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran c Institute for Environmental Research, Kargar St., Enqelab Sq., Tehran, Iran d Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi St., Tehran, Iran e Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Enqelab St., Tehran, Iran article info Article history: Received 10 February 2011 Received in revised form 17 August 2011 Accepted 10 September 2011 Available online 19 October 2011 Keywords: The Middle Eastern Dust event Particulate matter Health effects Air quality Ahvaz abstract In this study, PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 concentrations were measured from April through September 2010. These measurements were made every six days and on days with dust events using a Grimm Model 1.177 aerosol spectrometer. Meteorological data were also collected. Overall mean values of 319.6  407.07, 69.5  83.2, and 37.02  34.9 mg/m 3 were obtained for PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 , respectively, with corre- sponding maximum values of 5337.6, 910.9, and 495 mg/m 3 . The presence of the westerly prevailing wind implied that Iraq is the major source of dust events in this area. A total of 72 dust days and 711 dust hours occurred in the study area. The dust events occurred primarily during July. The longest dust event during the study period occurred in July, lasted five days, and had a peak concentration of 2028 mg/m 3 . These high concentrations produced AQI values of up to 500. A total estimated mortality and morbidity of 1131 and 8157 cases, respectively, can be attributed to these concentrations. The results of this study indicated the importance of dust events in Ahvaz and their possible health impacts. The study also demonstrated the need to design and implement intergovernmental management schemes to effectively mitigate such events. Crown Copyright Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Dust events are defined as natural events with substantial particulate matter (PM) concentrations, usually occurring in arid, semi-arid, or desert areas (Wang et al., 2005) and primarily resulting from low vegetation cover and strong surface winds (Kurosaki and Mikami, 2003). Dust events produce the large-scale or even global transport of large amounts of mineral dusts every year (Moulin, 1997). It is hypothesized that half of this amount is deposited near the sources. The other half can be suspended in the atmosphere, undergoing long-range transport (Zhang, 1995) and strongly affecting PM concentrations (He et al., 2001), the earth’s radiation budget (Satheesh and Krishna Moorthy, 2005), traffic and agriculture (Kurosaki and Mikami, 2003), the chemical composition of the troposphere (Dentener et al., 1996), the thermal structure of the atmosphere, and photochemical and dynamic processes in the atmosphere (Liao et al., 1999). Therefore, the dust transported by these events can interfere with normal activities. In addition to the abovementioned impacts, the health effects of dust events over both the short and the long terms have attracted the attention of scientists. This scientific interest has produced many epidemiological studies in susceptible areas. For example, Kwon et al. (2002) found a statistically significant relationship between dust events and mortality due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Seoul, Korea. Meng and Lu (2007) associated dust events with total respiratory hospitalization, upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, hypertension, and cardiovascular hospitalization. Moreover, Perez et al. (2008) hypothesized that * Corresponding author. Enghlab Square, 16 Azar Street, TUMS, Tehran, Iran. Tel.: þ98 912 2022363; fax: þ98 21 66707315. E-mail addresses: ashahsavani@gmail.com (A. Shahsavani), knadafi@tums.ac.ir (K. Naddafi), na.haghighifarad@gmail.com (N. Jafarzade Haghighifard), mesdaghinia@sina.tums.ac.ir (A. Mesdaghinia), yunesian@tums.ac.ir (M. Yunesian), rnabizadeh@tums.ac.ir (R. Nabizadeh), arhami@sharif.edu (M. Arahami), hsowlat@ gmail.com (M.H. Sowlat), m.yarahmadi86@gmail.com (M. Yarahmadi), hamed18nov@yahoo.com (H. Saki), m_alimohammadi@tums.ac.ir (M. Alimohamadi), snazmara@gmail.com (S. Nazmara), amotevalian@tums.ac.ir (S.A. Motevalian), rgoodarzy@gmail.com (G. Goudarzi). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Arid Environments journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv 0140-1963/$ e see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.09.007 Journal of Arid Environments 77 (2012) 72e83