Monthly and seasonal trends of total suspended particulate matter and smoke concentration in industrial and residential areas in Cairo

Total suspended particulate (TSP) matter and smoke were investigated at Shoubra El-Kheima industrial area and El-Dokki residential area located in Cairo. TSP gave the highest monthly mean concentration in 2 years' study at Shoubra El-Kheima (895 μg m⁻³), nearly 12 times the geometrical mean of air quality standard (75 μg m⁻³). The corresponding figure at the residential area is 544 μg m⁻³, which is 7.3 concentrations during spring and lower during summer. Smoke concentration in the industrial area was nearly 1.4 and 1.2 times its concentration in the residential area during the 2 study years. Smoke concentration was found to be light to moderate during 86% of the days and heavy to extremely heavy during 14% of the days at the industrial area. The corresponding percentages for the residential area were 90% and 10% for light to moderate and heavy to extremely heavy, respectively.