Abstract
Meteorology is a major driving force to poor urban air quality. This is
due to its ability to influence the emissions, transport, formation, and
deposition of air pollutants. In this study, the relationship between
meteorological parameters including temperature, relative humidity, wind
speed and direction and ambient air pollutants concentrations such as
PM2.5 in the capital city of Ghana was carried out for a continuous
period of 12 months from March 2020 to February 2021. Clear seasonality
was observed for PM2.5, meteorological parameters and the air quality
index. Maximum concentrations of PM2.5 were recorded in winter leading
to poor air quality. Wind speed and relative humidity reversely
correlated with the air pollutant while temperature showed a positive
correlation with PM2.5. north-easterly winds led to highest
concentrations during the winter season while south-westerly winds
prevail over Accra in summer. The results from air quality index (AQI)
indicated that severely poor air prevails during the winter period.
These results justify the crucial role of meteorological parameters in
air pollution formation with large variations in different seasons.
These findings can be employed to enhance the understanding of processes
that lead to air pollution and improve the accuracy of air quality
forecast under different meteorological conditions.