Characteristics, source apportionment and long-range transport of black carbon at a high-altitude urban centre in the Kashmir valley, North-western Himalaya

Bhat, Mudasir Ahmad; Romshoo, Shakil Ahmad; Beig, Gufran

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119295

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…However, due to an insufficiency of observations, BrC is one of the least understood and uncertain warming agents (Yue et al, 2022). Several studies have been carried out to examine the concentration of BC and BrC all over the world and in India as well Venkataraman, 2002a, 2002b;Venkataraman et al, 2006;Park et al, 2010;Sloss, 2012;Helin et al, 2021;Kumar et al, 2020;Watham et al, 2021;Bhat et al, 2022;Runa et al, 2022;Yue et al, 2022;Kumar et al, 2018b). However, the overall worldwide BC emission is estimated to be 4800-7200 Gg per year (Klimont et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement report: Intra-annual Variability of Black/Brown Carbon and Its Interrelation with Meteorological Conditions over Gangtok, Sikkim

Kumar,

Sharma,

Malu

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) have versatile nature, and they have apparent role in the climate variability and changes. As the anthropogenic activity is surging, the BC and BrC are also reportedly increasing. So, the monitoring of BC/BrC and observation of land use land cover changes (LULCC) at regional level are necessary for the various interconnected meteorological phenomenal changes. The current study investigates BC, BrC, CO2, BC from fossil fuels (BCff), BC from biomass burning (BCbb), LULCC, and their relationship to the corresponding meteorological conditions over Gangtok in Sikkim Himalayan region. The concentration of BC (BrC) 43.5 μg/m3 (32.0 μg/m3) is found to be highest during the March-2022 (April-2021). Surface pressure has been found to have a significant positive correlation with BC, BCff, BCbb and BrC. The boundary layer is calmer and more stable when the surface pressure is higher, which keeps contaminants deposited there. The wind, on the other hand, appears to represent the dispersion of pollutants with a strong negative correlation. The fact that all pollutants and precipitation have been shown to behave similarly points to moist scavenging of the pollutants. Despite the dense cloud cover, the area is not receiving convective precipitation, implying that orographic precipitation is occurring over the region. Most of Sikkim receives convective rain from May to September, indicating that the region has significant convective activity contributed from the Bay of Bengal during monsoon season. Furthermore, monsoon months have the lowest concentrations of BC, BCbb, BCff, and BrC, suggesting the potential of convective rain (as rain out scavenging) to remove most of the pollutants. Moreover, BC and BrC show positive radiative feedback.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement report: Intra-annual Variability of Black/Brown Carbon and Its Interrelation with Meteorological Conditions over Gangtok, Sikkim

Kumar,

Sharma,

Malu

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The IGP is a global hotspot of diverse aerosols (Ojha et al, 2020;Kumar et al, 2018) that impacts regional and global climate (Ramanathan et al, 2005;Tri-pathi et al, 2005;Sarangi et al, 2015). Air masses transport aerosols from the IGP to nearby regions, which also impacts air quality (Bhat et al, 2022;Ojha et al, 2012). Bonasoni et al (2010) showed that pollutants from the IGP follow the southern slope of the Himalayas as a path into the Bay of Bengal and NE India, and similar observations were made by Gogoi et al (2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transported aerosols regulate the pre-monsoon rainfall over north-east India: a WRF-Chem modelling study

Barman

Gokhale

2023

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The study differentiates and quantifies the impacts of aerosols emitted locally within the north-east (NE) India region and those transported from outside this region to ascertain whether local or transported aerosols are more impactful in influencing this region's rainfall during the pre-monsoon season (March–April–May). Due to the existence of a declining pre-monsoon rainfall trend in NE India, the study also quantified the role of different aerosol effects in radiative forcing (RF) and rainfall. The study has been carried out using the WRF-Chem model by comparing simulation scenarios where emissions were turned on and off within and outside the NE region. The impact of all emissions as a whole and black carbon (BC) specifically was studied. Results show that aerosols transported primarily from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) were responsible for 93.98 % of the PM10 mass over NE India's atmosphere and 64.18 % of near-surface PM10 concentration. Transported aerosols contributed >50 % of BC, organic carbon, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium and dust aerosol concentration and are hence a major contributor to air pollution. Hence, the aerosol effects were much greater with transported aerosols. An indirect aerosol effect was found to be the major effect and more impactful, with transported aerosols that dominated both rainfall and RF and suppressed rainfall more significantly than the direct and semi-direct effect. However, the increase in direct radiative effects with an increase in transported BC counteracted the rainfall suppression caused by relevant processes of other aerosol effects. Thus, this study shows atmospheric transport to be an important process for this region, as transported emissions, specifically from the IGP, were also found to have greater control over the region's rainfall. Thus, emission control policies implemented in the IGP will reduce air pollution as well as the climatic impacts of aerosols over the NE India region.

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Uncovering sources, distribution, and seasonal patterns of trace element deposition: the elemental puzzle of the western Himalayas

Dar,

Rai,

Jahan

et al. 2024

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Characteristics, source apportionment and long-range transport of black carbon at a high-altitude urban centre in the Kashmir valley, North-western Himalaya

Cited by 10 publications

References 75 publications

Measurement report: Intra-annual Variability of Black/Brown Carbon and Its Interrelation with Meteorological Conditions over Gangtok, Sikkim

Measurement report: Intra-annual Variability of Black/Brown Carbon and Its Interrelation with Meteorological Conditions over Gangtok, Sikkim

Transported aerosols regulate the pre-monsoon rainfall over north-east India: a WRF-Chem modelling study

Uncovering sources, distribution, and seasonal patterns of trace element deposition: the elemental puzzle of the western Himalayas

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