TY - JOUR
T1 - Study the relationship between the health effects and characterization of thermal inversions in the Sultanate of Oman
AU - Abdul-Wahab, Sabah A.
AU - Bakheit, Charles S.
AU - Siddiqui, R. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Sultan Qaboos University (Project no. IG/ENG/MIED/03/02). The authors are grateful to the Department of Civil Aviation and Meteorology and Meteorology Department at the Seeb International Airport. Special thanks go to Sultan Yarub Al-Saifi and Badar Ali Alrumhi. The authors are also grateful to Drs. Salim Al-Wahaibi and Mohammed Abdul-Razic from the Ministry of Health, Sultanate of Oman, for providing data on the diseases.
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - This study was to investigate relationships between the thermal inversion layer and health effects that are associated with air pollution. Records of emergency visits, covering a period of one year, to Oman's Royal Hospital, due to acute respiratory diseases, were used for the study. Cases of four types of diseases, which are linked with atmospheric air pollution, were considered. Emphasis was also placed on the temperature profile data to study the characteristics of inversions. Surface-based inversions occurred almost every day of the year while cases of elevated inversions were more during the summer than during the winter months. For both types of inversions, the depths of most of the inversions did not exceed 200 m. Stronger inversions tended to occur with large inversion depths. There were significant associations between the two types of inversions and the incidence of the diseases, measured by the number of emergency hospital visits. The daily average number of hospital visits increased with increasing inversion depth and strength of surface-based inversions. In the case of elevated inversions, the summer months with a high frequency of occurrence had higher figures than the winter months, increasing significantly with the depth but not with the strength of inversion.
AB - This study was to investigate relationships between the thermal inversion layer and health effects that are associated with air pollution. Records of emergency visits, covering a period of one year, to Oman's Royal Hospital, due to acute respiratory diseases, were used for the study. Cases of four types of diseases, which are linked with atmospheric air pollution, were considered. Emphasis was also placed on the temperature profile data to study the characteristics of inversions. Surface-based inversions occurred almost every day of the year while cases of elevated inversions were more during the summer than during the winter months. For both types of inversions, the depths of most of the inversions did not exceed 200 m. Stronger inversions tended to occur with large inversion depths. There were significant associations between the two types of inversions and the incidence of the diseases, measured by the number of emergency hospital visits. The daily average number of hospital visits increased with increasing inversion depth and strength of surface-based inversions. In the case of elevated inversions, the summer months with a high frequency of occurrence had higher figures than the winter months, increasing significantly with the depth but not with the strength of inversion.
KW - Diseases
KW - Elevated thermal layer
KW - Sultanate of Oman
KW - Surface-based inversion layer
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.05.038
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.05.038
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:24344490194
SN - 1352-2310
VL - 39
SP - 5466
EP - 5471
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
IS - 30
ER -