Study of surface morphology, elemental composition and origin of atmospheric aerosols (PM2.5 and PM10) over Agra, India

In situ measurements of PM (PM2.5 and PM10) particles were carried out using a medium volume air sampler (offline) and particle number concentrations of PM were measured by a Grimm aerosol spectrophotometer (online) during the study period of 2010�2011. The morphology and elemental composition analyses of PM were performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), respectively. The average mass concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were 97.2 and 242.6 µg/m3 at roadside (RD) and 121.2 and 230.5 µg/m3 at a semirural (SR) site, respectively. These concentrations were substantially higher than the NAAQS, WHO and USEPA standards. The highest mass and number concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were observed during winter, followed by those during the post-monsoon period and summer, with the lowest in the monsoon period. SEM and EDS analysis of PM indicated the presence of soot, mineral, tarballs, fly ash, aluminosilicates/silica, fluorine, carbon rich, and Cl-Na rich particles. Of these particles, soot, tarballs, and F-C rich particles dominate in PM2.5, whereas mineral, aluminosilicates, and Cl-Na rich particles dominate in PM10. The morphology and elemental composition of the particles varied over the seasons due to atmospheric processing. The highest carbon concentration (56) was observed in PM2.5 during summer at the RD, while in the monsoon, post-monsoon period and winter the carbon concentration was ~9 lower at the RD as compared to the SR. However, the concentration of carbon in PM10 was ~38 higher at the RD as compared to SR during both summer and winter. Air mass backward trajectory cluster analysis was performed, and the results indicate that the aerosol loadings over Agra are mainly transported from the Middle East and Arabian Sea during the summer and monsoon period, while during the pre-monsoon period and winter the aerosol loadings came from the northern region, and were due to the burning of biomass and coal, as well as other local activities

Determination of wood burning and fossil fuel contribution of black carbon at Delhi, India using aerosol light absorption technique

A comprehensive measurement program of effective black carbon (eBC), fine particle (PM2.5), and carbon monoxide (CO) was undertaken during 1 December 2011 to 31 March 2012 (winter period) in Delhi, India. The mean mass concentrations of eBC, PM2.5, and CO were recorded as 12.1 ± 8.7 μg/m(3), 182.75 ± 114.5 μg/m(3), and 3.41 ± 1.6 ppm, respectively, during the study period. Also, the absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) was estimated from eBC and varied from 0.38 to 1.29 with a mean value of 1.09 ± 0.11. The frequency of occurrence of AAE was ~17 % less than unity whereas ~83 % greater than unity was observed during the winter period in Delhi. The mass concentrations of eBC were found to be higher by ~34 % of the average value of eBC (12.1 μg/m(3)) during the study period. Sources of eBC were estimated, and they were ~94 % from fossil fuel (eBCff) combustion whereas only 6 % was from wood burning (eBCwb). The ratio between eBCff and eBCwb was 15, which indicates a higher impact from fossil fuels compared to biomass burning. When comparing eBCff during day and night, a factor of three higher concentrations was observed in nighttime than daytime, and it is due to combustion of fossil fuel (diesel vehicle emission) and shallow boundary layer conditions. The contribution of eBCwb in eBC was higher between 1800 and 2100 hours due to burning of wood/biomass. A significant correlation between eBC and PM2.5 (r = 0.78) and eBC and CO (r = 0.46) indicates the similarity in location sources. The mass concentration of eBC was highest (23.4 μg/m(3)) during the month of December when the mean visibility (VIS) was lowest (1.31 km). Regression analysis among wind speed (WS), VIS, soot particles, and CO was studied, and significant negative relationships were seen between VIS and eBC (-0.65), eBCff (-0.66), eBCwb (-0.34), and CO (-0.65); however, between WS and eBC (-0.68), eBCff (-0.67), eBCwb (-0.28), and CO (-0.53). The regression analysis indicated that emission of soot particles may be localized to fossil fuel combustion, whereas wood/biomass burning emission of black carbon is due to transportation from farther distances. Regression analysis between eBCff and CO (r = 0.44) indicated a similar source as vehicular emissions. The very high loading of PM2.5 along with eBC over Delhi suggests that urgent action is needed to mitigate the emissions of carbonaceous aerosol in the northern part of India

Sources and characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols at Agra World heritage site and Delhi capital city of India

Agra, one of the oldest cities “World Heritage site”, and Delhi, the capital city of India are both located in the border of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and heavily loaded with atmospheric aerosols due to tourist place, anthropogenic activities, and its topography, respectively. Therefore, there is need for monitoring of atmospheric aerosols to perceive the scenario and effects of particles over northern part of India. The present study was carried out at Agra (AGR) as well as Delhi (DEL) during winter period from November 2011 to February 2012 of fine particulate (PM2.5: d < 2.5 μm) as well as associated carbonaceous aerosols. PM2.5 was collected at both places using medium volume air sampler (offline measurement) and analyzed for organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). Also, simultaneously, black carbon (BC) was measured (online) at DEL

Variability in atmospheric particulates and meteorological effects on their mass concentrations over Delhi, India

Simultaneous and continuous measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 along with other co-existent pollutants viz., black carbon (BC), CO, NO and NOx were carried out over Delhi with high resolution (5 min) datasets from 1st Sept. 2010 to 23rd Aug. 2012. Arithmetic mean mass concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were about 130 ± 103 and 222 ± 142 μg m− 3 respectively during the entire measurement period, which are considerably higher than the annual averages of PM2.5 and PM10, stipulated by the National and International standards. It was noticed that the fine mode particles (PM2.5) were higher than the coarse mode particles (PM10–2.5) during post-monsoon (~ 89%), winter (~ 69%) and monsoon (~ 64%) periods; however, PM10–2.5 was higher (~ 22%) than PM2.5 during summer. Arithmetic mean mass concentrations of BC, CO, NO and NOx were about 7 ± 5 μg m− 3, 2 ± 1 ppm, 17 ± 17 ppb and 30 ± 24 ppb, respectively. In the present study, highest fraction of BC (~ 6%) in PM2.5 mass was in winter, whereas the lowest fraction (~ 4%) was in summer. Relationships among PMs (particulate matters) and other pollutants indicated that the fine mode particles are highly correlated with BC (0.74) and CO (0.51

Intra-urban variability of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and its relationship with optical properties of aerosols over Delhi, India

Highly time-resolved measurements of particulate matter (PM: PM2.5 and PM10) were made at three different sites across Delhi (CCRI: a highly traffic site, IMD: a less traffic site and IITM: an urban background site) from 1st December, 2011 to 30th June, 2013. Also, coarse mode (PM10–2.5) mass was estimated as the difference between PM10 and PM2.5. In addition, columnar aerosol optical properties such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom exponent (AE) were studied concurrently over IMD. The mean mass concentrations of PM2.5, PM10–2.5 and PM10 were 118.3 ± 81.7, 113.6 ± 70.4 and 232.1 ± 131.1 μg m− 3, respectively. Among the three sites, relatively higher mass concentrations of PM2.5 (~ 35% and 3%) were observed at CRRI compared to IMD and IITM.PM10 and PM10–2.5 were higher at these sites by ~ 31% and 19%; and 27% and 40%, respectively, compared to CRRI. Coefficients of divergence (COD) and correlation coefficients (r) were calculated between site pairs to assess the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of PM and moderate spatial divergence was found over the three sites. Traffic emission particles (PM2.5) exhibited high spatial heterogeneity as well. The mass concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were found to be higher during the night compared to the day. The mean PM2.5/PM10 ratio was ~ 51%, indicating generally equal amounts of coarse and fine mode PM in the Delhi urban atmosphere. AOD and PM2.5 were positively correlated and a negative correlation was observed between AE and PM10–2.5. PM2.5 particles were significantly correlated with AOD during post-monsoon and winter. Because of the lower vehicular emissions on weekends compared to weekdays, PM at CRRI, IMD, and IITM were separated by day of week and large heterogeneities were found. During weekdays, the mass concentrations of PM10 were ~ 4, 2, and 12% higher than on weekends. However, for PM2.5, weekend values were 5, 7, and 9% higher for CRRI, IMD and IITM, respectively

Carbonaceous aerosols and pollutants over Delhi urban environment: Temporal evolution, source apportionment and radiative forcing

Particulate matter (PM2.5) samples were collected over Delhi, India during January to December 2012 and analysed for carbonaceous aerosols and inorganic ions (SO42 − and NO3−) in order to examine variations in atmospheric chemistry, combustion sources and influence of long-range transport. The PM2.5 samples are measured (offline) via medium volume air samplers and analysed gravimetrically for carbonaceous (organic carbon, OC; elemental carbon, EC) aerosols and inorganic ions (SO42 − and NO3−). Furthermore, continuous (online) measurements of PM2.5 (via Beta-attenuation analyser), black carbon (BC) mass concentration (via Magee scientific Aethalometer) and carbon monoxide (via CO-analyser) are carried out. PM2.5 (online) range from 18.2 to 500.6 μg m− 3 (annual mean of 124.6 ± 87.9 μg m− 3) exhibiting higher night-time (129.4 μg m− 3) than daytime (103.8 μg m− 3) concentrations. The online concentrations are 38% and 28% lower than the offline during night and day, respectively. In general, larger night-time concentrations are found for the BC, OC, NO3−and SO42 −, which are seasonally dependent with larger differences during late post-monsoon and winter. The high correlation (R2 = 0.74) between OC and EC along with the OC/EC of 7.09 (day time) and 4.55 (night-time), suggest significant influence of biomass-burning emissions (burning of wood and agricultural waste) as well as secondary organic aerosol formation during daytime. Concentrated weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis reveals that the potential sources for the carbonaceous aerosols and pollutants are local emissions within the urban environment and transported smoke from agricultural burning in northwest India during post-monsoon. BC radiative forcing estimates result in very high atmospheric heating rates (~ 1.8–2.0 K day− 1) due to agricultural burning effects during the 2012 post-monsoon season