Air Quality Index (AQI) for Kirkuk City

Urban air pollution problem is a major concern in many large cities and becomes increasingly critical around the world. The effects of urban air pollution on public health are being felt worldwide. Pollutants can destroy sensitive tissues (in people, animals and plants). Kirkuk city is considered as the main petroleum city in Iraq. The recent year's rapid growth of this city has resulted in a significant increase in environmental pollution. The aim of this research was to measure some important pollutant concentrations such as (SO2, NO2, CO, O3, and PM2.5, PM10) in Kirkuk city. The studied area contains (18) sites which are taken for the period (January – May, 2014), the coordinate of each individual sample location was determined by Global Position System (GPS) (Garmin navigator). Geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized to map urban air pollution dispersion over Kirkuk city. Air Quality Index (AQI) for Kirkuk city is calculated using six main pollutants for five months of measurements. The average AQI of Kirkuk city was found to be polluted to unhealthy (AQI values = 101 – 200).