Wintertime aerosol characteristics at a north Indian site Kharagpur in the Indo‐Gangetic plains located at the outflow region into Bay of Bengal

Abstract

Keeping the importance of aerosol characterization in the out flow regions from the Indian subcontinent in view, a campaign mode observation on aerosol physical properties was made at Indian Institute of Technology campus, Kharagpur located under the vent region in the Indo‐Gangetic plains during the winter month of December 2004. The aerosol spectral optical depths and near‐surface mass concentrations were high with a mean aerosol optical depth of 0.7 at 500 nm and a percent share of fine mode particle concentration as high as 90. However, the share of the BC aerosol to fine mode aerosol was consistently 10%, which is typical of an urban location. The vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter intensity derived using a micropulse lidar show that the boundary layer height variation accounts for the day‐to‐day variability in the surface mass concentrations. The negative correlation between aerosol backscatter intensity at two representative altitudes above and below the boundary layer implicates only vertical redistribution of aerosols. The lidar data also suggest that no aerosol transport has taken place over the location to account for the day‐to‐day variability. The forward trajectories at three representative altitudes with source point at the observing site indicate a possible aerosol transport from the outflow regions into Bay of Bengal, southern peninsular India and Arabian Sea. The results were discussed in light of the earlier mobile campaign observations on the spatial variability of aerosol physical properties over the peninsular India.