Dubai Air Quality
 

Here's something they don't print in the papers here!

This was shown to me today by an EK doctor, take a look at the app "Air Visual" it shows Dubai as the 2nd worse city in the world for air quality.
Two weeks ago when it was very hazy and humid it actually advised you not to go outside at all.
Something to think about when choosing to move here with your young children!! I can only imagine what breathing in all that sand dust does to your lungs.

Download the app and take a look, it's quite revealing.

Welcome to the sandpit, the happiest city in the world.

This is an interesting topic that is seldom discussed. I flew out of Dubai for 14 years and never wore a hat or used sun screen in Dubai.Didn't need to. I did wear a hat and used sun screen if we went to Fujairah, Oman, KSA, RSA, Oz or went off shore fishing. If you are driving on the Emirates highway look towards DXB and see the haze or look at the stars at night and you don't get the sparkle that you get elsewhere in the world. I used to notice that we would enter the top of the pollution around 8,000 feet when over the Gulf coming in for 12L

Air Quality
 

Yeah but it's worth the sacrifice for all that time off and industry leading terms and conditions. Oh wait...

Install air matters or any other similar app and you will see on a daily basis that pollution levels in Dubai are usually worse than Beijing. Also note the difference between the official source and the one that comes from the US embassy......based on actual measurements not rumour.

Yeah I always knew the air quality here was crap but never quantified it in any way. Beijing today is 29, Dubai is 134 and posted as "unhealthy"

Might start wearing a mask like the Asians do!!

The World Bank has been publishing this fact for a while. After it gained media attention with their 2015 report, the UAE pressured them to differentiate between man-made particles and natural dust. So the most recent reports are cleansed in that they factor out the natural mineral dust. I suppose your lungs will still feel all of the dirt.

World Bank: United Arab Emirates Has World's Most Polluted Air | Time

Compare the values from the US Embassy in Dubai to your home country... https://aqicn.org/map/middleeast

It's been the worst year in my 12 years. And last year I was on reserve in summer so I was home a lot, and it was markedly "less bad" last year. I've never seen it so bad, for so many weeks, but of course whenever I ask someone who grew up here about this particularly bad summer they shrug it off and say they have no idea what I'm talking about. I have been using AirVisual this year as well, and I love the facial expressions and recommendations associated with the ever-worsening pollution. When it gets over 300ppm "extremely hazardous" as it did for several days in a row last month, the little face starts wearing a gas mask, and respirator! Good stuff.

Yes, without a doubt the UAE and particularly Dubai is "Number One" consistently outpacing Beijing, Shanghai, and all of India by a wide margin. :-):ok:

One of our local colleagues chatted to me on the flight deck not that long ago about how he felt the climate has changed markedly in Dubai, since when he was a child and before the city started to really grow. He recalled it being pleasant to sleep on the roof of the family home in the summer, with it generally being a lot more comfortable than it is now.

You only need to witness the visible dust that accumulates on your car in the summer and that is even if you only leave it parked outdoors for just a few days. The ridiculous congestion on the roads here is indicative of how much pollution is spewed into the air here every single day and that is in addition to the dust particles that are already in the air.

Extend the Metro to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
Problem fixed.

Not to mention the caked-on, baked-on dust on the hundreds of abandoned cars at the Dubai Airport car-park. But that's just crazy to see, what with the generous terms and conditions, not to mention environmental conditions!

I have been monitoring AiMatters app for some time now and it's definitely getting worse.
As pilots, we know the insane rosters have a huge impact on our health but I am now also worried about my family...is Dubai safe for kids?
With all the works going on for years to go the situation will inevitably deteriorate further, expat will probably continue lo leave in numbers and real estate will spiral down.
Definitely working on an exit plan!

There is a project measuring and/or collecting air quality data all over the world.
It is working fine in all of China. It is officially banned in the UAE...

Dubai US Embassy, UAE Air Pollution: Real-time PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI)
Beijing Air Pollution: Real-time PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI)

With all these gas guzzling vehicles driving around it isn't much of a surprise.

makes you wonder also about just *what* they build with.

I mean there's been several demonstrations of the fact that fire safe building materials are merely a "suggestion" and not required. Is it the same for asbestos and all those other nasties too?

Well the mass exodus of locals every summer to Europe and elsewhere, leaving their summer to the expats to enjoy, speaks volumes.

I was going to say aviation as well. Now I haven't seen many old aircraft in Dubai, but an A380 also throws dirt into the air. Combine this with desert sand floating in the air. You are breathing in some quality air. Anyone ever noticed that you don't step outside your house and ever feel like you getting fresh air?

Staying inside does not protect you from PM2.5 – that stuff is fine enough to creep thru all gaps.
As a rough rule you can say inside PM2.5 levels will be about ⅔ as high as outdoors.
Except if you get all windows and doors air-tight and run air purifiers.

I thought they used sub-continent immigrants who "misplaced" their passports...

Of course, I'm sure this workforce are skilled professional tradesmen so the quality of construction must be quite high...

A lot of them actually are qualified, it's more the materials they're given and what shortcuts they're made go take by management that worry me. Of course a fair proportion if them are untrained but under a good supervisor that shouldn't matter so much. Problem is who is supervising?

When I used to descend into DXB you could plainly see the yellow'ish haze / smog / dust above the city, or as we regularly described it, "We're re-entering the ****osphere!"

This thread should be a sticky as well. Just wondering how many people realize the effect air pollution has on health. Today's Air Quality Index in Dubai is again one of the worst among major cities...as bad as New Delhi and twice as bad as Beijing! Unfortunately masks are almost useless and with the quality of construction and window frames, filters are inefficient.

In other news, airline experts find that water is wet........

Its a bit of a stretch to say that Dubai and Delhi are comparable ....

Delhi
O3 25
PM2.5 300
PM10 216
NO2 31
Air Quality Indicator today = 300, annual average 189

Dubai
O3 180 (its sunny, little cloud cover)
PM2.5 99
PM10 96
NO2 10
Air Quality Indicator today = 180, annual average 126

Have a look at night and see all the gas burners on the rigs constantly going in the gulf, not to mention the others based on land. Given theres virtually no plant life to soak up the pollution it just hangs around in the lower atmosphere, you will see it as an orange brown haze.

Ive been in Kuwait and the the petrochemical smell from the refinery's is almost choking, glad I left the region for my healths sake.