Affiliations: Department of Geography and Planning, Buffalo State
College, Buffalo, New York | Department of Biology, Eastern Mennonite University,
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Abstract: The city of Phnom Penh is experiencing growth and, with this growth,
an increased level of air pollution in the form of airborne particles that are
attributed to increased vehicle traffic in the city – vehicular exhaust
and re-entrained dust. For this study, airborne particulates were counted and
sorted using a six-channel laser particle counter. Initial sample counts were
taken at 88 sites within the city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on days
representative of dry season conditions. A subset of 33 sites was re-sampled on
a day representative of the wet season. Objectives of this study are to provide
a baseline count for airborne particulates in the city of Phnom Penh, and to
explore the characteristics of the particulate counts utilizing summary
statistics and maps. The median Phnom Penh city-wide fine and coarse particle
counts are 1.07 *10^8/m^3 and 1.36*10^6/m^3,
respectively. While the fine particle
count can be attributed to vehicle exhaust, the coarse particle count is
attributed to re-entrained road dust and dirt roads. The overall coarse
particle count is influenced by a number of hot spots across the city.
Selective paving of these hot spots will greatly reduce the level of airborne coarse particulates.
Keywords: Phnom Penh, Cambodia, particulates, particle counter, air pollution
