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Long-term (2005–2012) measurements of near-surface air pollutants at an urban location in the Indo-Gangetic Basin

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Abstract

Simultaneous long-term measurements of near-surface air pollutants at an urban station, New Delhi, were studied during 2005–2012 to understand their distribution on different temporal scales. The annual mean mass concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (\(\hbox {NO}_{2})\), sulphur dioxide (\(\hbox {SO}_{2})\), particulate matter less than \(10\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) (\(\hbox {PM}_{10})\) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) were found to be \(62.0\,{\pm }\,27.6\), \(12.5\,{\pm }\,8.2\), \(253.7\,{\pm }\,134\) and \(529.2\,{\pm }\,213.1\,\upmu \hbox {g}/\hbox {m}^{3}\), respectively. The 24-hr mean mass concentrations of \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\), \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) and SPM were exceeded on \(\sim \)27%, 87% and 99% days that of total available measurement days to their respective National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) level. However, it never exceeded for \(\hbox {SO}_{2}\), which could be attributed to reduction of sulphur in diesel, use of cleaner fuels such as compressed natural gas, LPG, etc. The mean mass concentrations of measured air pollutants were found to be the highest during the winter/post-monsoon seasons, which are of concern for both climate and human health. The annual mean mass concentrations of \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\), \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) and SPM showed an increasing trend while \(\hbox {SO}_{2}\) appears to be decreasing since 2008. Air mass cluster analysis showed that north–northwest trajectories accounted for the highest mass concentrations of air pollutants (more prominent in the winter/post-monsoon season); however, the lowest were associated with the southeast trajectory cluster.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the CPCB for providing air quality data and India Meteorological Department for surface meteorological data of New Delhi, which have been used in this study. We are also thankful to NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for providing HYSPLIT PC-version model via http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready.php. NK expresses his gratitude to Director, IITM for allowing him to pursue his Ph.D. thesis and providing the necessary infrastructure facilities at IITM (Delhi Branch). The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions to improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Branch), Prof Ramnath Vij Marg, New Delhi, India

    N Kishore, A K Srivastava, D S Bisht & S Tiwari

  2. Department of Physics, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar, India

    N Kishore & Hemwati Nandan

  3. Wadia Institute of Himalaya Geology, Dehradun, India

    Chhavi P Pandey

  4. Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, India

    S Agrawal

  5. Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Manora Peak, Nainital, India

    N Singh

  6. India Meteorological Department, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India

    V K Soni

  7. Department of Geophysics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

    Manoj K Srivastava

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  1. N Kishore
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  2. A K Srivastava
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  10. Manoj K Srivastava
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Correspondence to N Kishore.

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Corresponding editor: Suresh Babu

Supplementary material pertaining to this article is available on the Journal of Earth System Science website (http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science).

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Kishore, N., Srivastava, A.K., Nandan, H. et al. Long-term (2005–2012) measurements of near-surface air pollutants at an urban location in the Indo-Gangetic Basin. J Earth Syst Sci 128, 55 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1070-4

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