Abstract
ABSTRACT Ambient fine aerosols and their sources were evaluated in an eastern Indian megacity, Kolkata (KOL), from September 2010 to August 2011. A submicron aerosol sampler (SAS) with two stage stacked filter units (SFU) was devised for simultaneous but discrete collection of water-soluble inorganic ions (WSII) and carbonaceous aerosols (CA; elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC)). Characteristics of the WSII and CA were identified using ion chromatography and an OC-EC analyzer, respectively, adopting the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environments (IMPROVE-A) protocol. The mean annual concentrations of the WSII showed a predominance of cations (anions), consisting of Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+ (Cl–, NO3–, and SO42–), with secondary aerosols (NH4+, NO3–, and SO42–) and Ca2+ each constituting 25% and 30%, respectively, of the total WSII (TWSII). The highest mean monthly concentration of SO42– and NO3– was observed during the winter month of February and the summer months of March and May, respectively. A pronounced peak in the monthly mean for the non-sea salt-K+ (nss-K+) concentration was noticed during October and April, implying the strong influence of biomass burning emissions during these months. Among the sea salt (SS), anthropogenic (AN), and dust (DT) sources of the TWSII, a predominant contribution from DT in August and from AN in November, April, and May was inferred. The mean annual concentration of OC was three times higher than that of EC, with 43% of it being secondary OC. Whereas the major sources of OC were inferred to be paved dust, coal combustion, and biomass burning, those of EC were industrial and motor-vehicle non-exhaust emissions, coal combustion, and motor vehicle exhaust.
Highlights
Increasing concentration of anthropogenic aerosols in recent years has been inferred to perturb the earth system exerting detrimental effects on climate, visibility, and human health (IPCC, 2013)
In order to know the possible influence of air mass pathways on aerosols measured at the study site, seven-day (7-d) back trajectory is calculated using NOAA Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) (Draxler and Hess, 1998) for the days of measurement
This analysis led to identifying six pathways of air mass at the study site, as follows: (i) Path A (IO/AS/SI/ECI), those which originate from Indian Ocean (IO) and traverse over Arabian Sea (AS), South India (SI) and east coast of India (ECI); (ii) Path B (BoB), those which originate and traverse over the Bay of Bengal (BoB); (iii) Path C (IGP), back trajectories which originate in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP); (iv) Path D (AFWA/WA/NWI/CNI), those which originate from Africa (AFWA) and pass through west Asia (WA), northwest India (NWI), central India (CNI) and IGP; (v) Path E (NEI), back trajectories originating from northeast India (NEI); (vi) Path F (IO/BoB), those which originate in the IO and spend relatively longer time over BoB
Summary
Increasing concentration of anthropogenic aerosols in recent years has been inferred to perturb the earth system exerting detrimental effects on climate, visibility, and human health (IPCC, 2013). The chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols contains water-soluble inorganic species, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and metals Though the atmospheric abundance of aerosol constituents is known in general, the chemical composition would exhibit temporal and spatial heterogeneity owing to the short residence time of aerosol species, influence from source- and region-specific emission sources and meteorological effects. This heterogeneity leads to uncertainty in the prediction of aerosol-induced climatic impacts, and necessitates examining temporal features of aerosol chemical species, and that distinctly for fine and coarses aerosol particles on a regional to local scale
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