Saudi: Air Quality Significantly Improves in Riyadh
The precautionary and preventive measures to stem the spread of coronavirus and the enforcement of curfew have contributed to bringing down the level of air pollution to a great extent in Riyadh.
Air quality monitoring stations under the Royal Commission for Riyadh recorded a noticeable decrease in a number of gaseous air pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) by 60 percent, Sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 40 percent, and Carbon monoxide (CO) by 56 percent.
The stations also recorded a fall in Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) by 38 percent, and the results concluded that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Riyadh for gas pollutants is currently at an excellent level.
The air monitoring stations contain devices that measure the concentration of 10 specific pollutants, which show instantaneous concentration data for the major pollutants.
In addition, these stations monitor climate information such as wind speed and direction, as well as the amount of rain and temperatures in Riyadh, relative humidity and solar radiation.
A special application for the air quality management program has been set up under the name of “Riyadh Air Quality”, and the app displays the AQI in Arabic and English on the level of suspended particles and gases every hour for the area surrounding each station.
