Abstract

Traffic emissions are a major source of air pollution in most urban areas affecting public health and the climate. The aim of this study is to determine the roadside concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions arising from motor vehicles at several sites in Gaza. This is with an effort to investigate the correlations between CO2 trends and micro-climate change. The concentration of CO2, along with the humidity and temperature, was monitored at selected intersections during morning peak (7:00–8:30 a.m.), off peak traffic hours (10:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.), and afternoon peak (3:00–4:30 p.m.). The results show that CO2 concentrations at the study locations fluctuated between 291 and 608 ppm. It was observed that CO2 concentrations were higher than the agreeable international level of 350 ppm in most of the sampled locations. Pearson’s correlation analysis shows good correlation (average r > 0.70) between CO2 concentrations and the traffic volume, and this signifies that CO2 is originated from vehicular emissions. Moreover, trends of the average ambient air temperature, which has been increasing for more than a decade, indicates that Gaza is becoming more exposed to extreme weather conditions as a result of the climate change. The finding suggests the necessity of taking actions to reduce the CO2 ambient concentration from traffic emissions in Gaza in order to minimize climatic change effect in a local context.