Heat Wave and Bushfire Meteorology in New South Wales, Australia: Air Quality and Health Impacts

Mohammad S. Islam (), Tianxin Fang, Callum Oldfield, Puchanee Larpruenrudee, Hamidreza Mortazavy Beni, Md. M. Rahman, Shahid Husain and Yuantong Gu
Additional contact information
Mohammad S. Islam: School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Tianxin Fang: School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Callum Oldfield: School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Puchanee Larpruenrudee: School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Hamidreza Mortazavy Beni: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Arsanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arsanjan 6134937333, Iran
Md. M. Rahman: School of Computing, Engineering, and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Shahid Husain: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zakir Husain College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202001, India
Yuantong Gu: School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-29

Abstract: The depletion of air quality is a major problem that is faced around the globe. In Australia, the pollutants emitted by bushfires play an important role in making the air polluted. These pollutants in the air result in many adverse impacts on the environment. This paper analysed the air pollution from the bushfires from November 2019 to July 2020 and identified how it affects the human respiratory system. The bush fires burnt over 13 million hectares, destroying over 2400 buildings. While these immediate effects were devastating, the long-term effects were just as devastating, with air pollution causing thousands of people to be admitted to hospitals and emergency departments because of respiratory complications. The pollutant that caused most of the health effects throughout Australia was Particulate Matter (PM) PM 2.5 and PM 10 . Data collection and analysis were covered in this paper to illustrate where and when PM 2.5 and PM 10, and other pollutants were at their most concerning levels. Susceptible areas were identified by analysing environmental factors such as temperature and wind speed. The study identified how these pollutants in the air vary from region to region in the same time interval. This study also focused on how these pollutant distributions vary according to the temperature, which helps to determine the relationship between the heatwave and air quality. A computational model for PM 2.5 aerosol transport to the realistic airways was also developed to understand the bushfire exhaust aerosol transport and deposition in airways. This study would improve the knowledge of the heat wave and bushfire meteorology and corresponding respiratory health impacts.

Keywords: heat wave; bushfire; PM 10; PM 2.5; health impacts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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