Distribution of Atmospheric Pollution in Southern Benin

This study focuses on air quality in southern Benin in order to show public authorities what the Beninese populations are exposed to for efficient decision-making. Two sampling campaigns were carried out, one in the wet period and the other in the dry season. The measurements were taken using a monitor called an “Air Quality Monitor”. For data processing, the multiple comparison methods of Dun (1961) and the Wilcoxon test were used. To maintain legitimacy, all spatial data were included in the official cartographic repository of Benin: WGS 1984, Transverse Mercator Universe Projection (UTM), Zone 31 North. The Moran statistic was used to measure the levels of spatial autocorrelation of the variables studied and to test the significance. In order to locate the spatial subsets, the local spatial association indices of Anselin Local Moran and Getis-Ord, Gi* were used. In terms of results, on the 13 monitoring sites and the 8 parameters chosen to determine air quality, we do not note any significant inter-seasonal difference. Of the eight parameters, only three parameters present spatial autocorrelation leading to predictions of ambient air quality over the entire study area based on the distance separating the points, namely, PM2.5, PM10 and ambient air quality index (AQI). The localities affected by atmospheric pollution in South Benin are located in the south-western part of Benin, headed by Cotonou, which is heavily polluted by CO2, TCOV, PM10 and PM2.5.