en تخصصي Special مقاله اصیل Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;">Background: The environmental conditions potentially predispose the northern part of the Persian Gulf to the occurrence of dust storms. Outdoor PM2.5 and their water-soluble ions in Bushehr port were studied from December 2016 to September 2017.<br> Methods: A total of 46 outdoor PM2.5 samples were collected by high-volume air sampler and eight water-soluble ions, including Ca2 + , Mg2 + , Na + , K+ , F-, Cl-, NO3-, and SO42- in PM2.5 were also measured by ion chromatography (IC).<br> Results: The 24-hour average concentration of PM2.5 was in the range of 22.09 to 292.45 &mu;g/m3. The mean concentration of water-soluble ions in PM2.5 was in the range of 0.10 &plusmn; 0.14 to 6.76 &plusmn; 4.63 &mu;g/m3.The major water-soluble ions were the secondary inorganic aerosols (SO42- and NO3-), which accounted for nearly 41% of total water-soluble ions in PM2.5. The total water-soluble ions level of PM2.5 in winter was higher than that in spring and summer. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model showed that the source contributions of PM2.5 were in the order of dust (55.8%), sea salt (17.1%), secondary sulfate (11.8%), industries (7%), vehicular emission (4.7%), and secondary nitrate (3.7%).<br> Conclusion: According to the results, dust and sea salt are the main sources of water-soluble ions in PM2.5 in Bushehr port, which should attract much attention.</div> Aerosols, Bushehr, PM2.5, Seasonal variation, Water-soluble ions 361 371 http://ehemj.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-313&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Fatemeh Faraji Ghasemi fatemeh.farajighasemi@gmail.com 100319475328460013987 100319475328460013987 No Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran Sina Dobaradaran sina_dobaradaran@yahoo.com 100319475328460013988 100319475328460013988 Yes Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran Reza Saeedi reza.saeedi@gmail.com 100319475328460013989 100319475328460013989 No Workplace Health Promotion Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Azam Mohammadi azam_mohamadi66@yahoo.com 100319475328460013990 100319475328460013990 No Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran AmirHossein Darabi darabi53@yahoo.com 100319475328460013991 100319475328460013991 No The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran Marzieh Mahmoodi mahmoodi.marzieh@gmail.com 100319475328460013992 100319475328460013992 No Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran