Identification of Sources of Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter in Dhaka, Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the ambient air within Dhaka city is highly polluted by motor vehicle and brick kiln emissions. In addition, meteorological conditions during the winter cause increases in the fine particulate matter concentrations by factors of 4 to 5 fold compared to the rainy season. To understand the contribution of possible pollution sources, compositional data for both the coarse and fine fractions samples collected between May 2001 and March 2005 have been analyzed using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). The results were compared with the previous source apportionment results. Conditional Probability Function (CPF) plots were developed for each source using local wind data to explore the directionality of local sources. Back trajectory ensemble methods were used to identify potential source regions…