Long-Term Trends in Black Carbon and Aerosol Optical Depth Over the Central Himalayas: Potential Causes and Implications

Joshi, H. P.; Naja, Manish; Srivastava, Priyanka; Gupta, Tarun; Gogoi, Mukunda M.; Babu, S. Suresh

doi:10.3389/feart.2022.851444

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Numerous research studies have demonstrated that the composition of PM is pivotal for assessing its impacts on air quality, climate, and human health [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. The atmospheric particles are highly dynamic in concentration and chemical characterization over space and time frames.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sampling site is flanked to the northeast by forests and high-altitude ranges and gradually merges with low-altitude plain regions and the Indo-Gangetic basin to the southwest. The site is expected to be emblematic of local and regional environments for climatic change studies[37,74,75]. Additional details about the location are available in the literature[71,72,76].Darjeeling: The Bose Institute, Darjeeling, was selected to study the characteristics of aerosols (88.15 • E, 27.01 • N, 2200 m a.s.l.).…”

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Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM10 Using Receptor Models over the Himalayan Region of India

Choudhary,

Rai,

Kuniyal

et al. 2023

Atmosphere

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This study presents the source apportionment of coarse-mode particulate matter (PM10) extracted by 3 receptor models (PCA/APCS, UNMIX, and PMF) at semi-urban sites of the Indian Himalayan region (IHR) during August 2018–December 2019. In this study, water-soluble inorganic ionic species (WSIIS), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), carbon fractions (organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC)), and trace elements of PM10 were analyzed over the IHR. Nainital (62 ± 39 µg m−3) had the highest annual average mass concentration of PM10 (average ± standard deviation at 1 σ), followed by Mohal Kullu (58 ± 32 µg m−3) and Darjeeling (54 ± 18 µg m−3). The annual total ∑WSIIS concentration order was as follows: Darjeeling (14.02 ± 10.01 µg m−3) > Mohal-Kullu (13.75 ± 10.21 µg m−3) > Nainital (10.20 ± 6.30 µg m−3), contributing to 15–30% of the PM10 mass. The dominant secondary ions (NH4+, SO42−, and NO3−) suggest that the study sites were strongly influenced by anthropogenic sources from regional and long-range transport. Principal component analysis (PCA) with an absolute principal component score (APCS), UNMIX, and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) were used for source identification of PM10 at the study sites of the IHR. All three models showed relatively similar results of source profiles for all study sites except their source number and percentage contribution. Overall, soil dust (SD), secondary aerosols (SAs), combustion (biomass burning (BB) + fossil fuel combustion (FFC): BB+FFC), and vehicular emissions (VEs) are the major sources of PM10 identified by these models at all study sites. Air mass backward trajectories illustrated that PM10, mainly attributed to dust-related aerosols, was transported from the Thar Desert, Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), and northwestern region of India (i.e., Punjab and Haryana) and Afghanistan to the IHR. Transported agricultural or residual burning plumes from the IGP and nearby areas significantly contribute to the concentration of carbonaceous aerosols (CAs) at study sites.

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confidence: 99%

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Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM10 Using Receptor Models over the Himalayan Region of India

Choudhary,

Rai,

Kuniyal

et al. 2023

Atmosphere

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International environmental policy processes that dispossessed developing societies of public land resources: A case study of Nepal

Dhakal,

Adhikari,

Chand

et al. 2023

GeoJournal

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Public lands including forests and community pastures are still crucial means of local livelihood, social security, and environmental conservation in many developing countries including Nepal. However, these resources are increasingly managed primarily to offset greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries. The new management has exacerbated many local problems: livelihood constriction, social crises, human casualties (deaths and serious injuries), biodiversity degradation, and water scarcity including cryosphere retreating. Drawing data from multiple sources, this study attempted to explain the international political objectives and processes that dispossessed developing societies of public land resources for the benefit of developed countries. It shows that representatives of the developed countries were proactively and strategically involved in agenda formation, solutions negotiations, and decision-making while developing international environmental policies, and succeeded to structure the policies for managing the resources of developing countries for the best benefit of their own countries. The developed countries provided funds and experts, as strategic tools, through international aid agencies to implement the policies of their interest in institutionally weak countries. In Nepal, the aid agencies influenced the thinking of the public and the decisions of the government and other stakeholders through a series of strategic measures. They propagandized false crises, worked with a coalition of powerful international agencies, offered free technical support, and changed national policies proactively to manage the land resources for achieving their missions. Active involvement in policy implementation also helped the agencies to monitor implementation hurdles and apply other tactics to resolve them. Lucrative flash incentives were provided to motivate and get the support of communities, powerful stakeholders, and politicians to implement the policies. Psychosocial pressures were also applied to persuade local communities and their leaders for getting local cooperation in making and practicing new legal institutions (government authority rules or orders, user group rules, and forest management plans) that bind and control local communities for forest protection. The institutions obliged local communities to contribute free labor or cash for developing, modifying, and protecting the forests. These two levels of interventions led to the further development of reinforcing institutions, resource conditions, and social-ecological systems that secured benefits for developed countries and deprived local communities of power to control, produce and access the public land resources in their own backyard for years. This study also showed that international environmental policies and aid agencies have respectively served as institutional weapons and vehicles for materially and institutionally powerful countries to colonize the land resources of weaker countries, without using of physical coercion or deplyment of military forces.

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Online observation of light non-methane hydrocarbons (C2–C5) over the central Himalayas: Influence of the Indo-Gangetic Plain region

Rajwar,

Naja,

Srivastava

et al. 2024

Atmospheric Pollution Research

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Long-Term Trends in Black Carbon and Aerosol Optical Depth Over the Central Himalayas: Potential Causes and Implications

Cited by 5 publications

References 84 publications

Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM10 Using Receptor Models over the Himalayan Region of India

Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM10 Using Receptor Models over the Himalayan Region of India

International environmental policy processes that dispossessed developing societies of public land resources: A case study of Nepal

Online observation of light non-methane hydrocarbons (C2–C5) over the central Himalayas: Influence of the Indo-Gangetic Plain region

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