Seasonal air quality profile of inorganic ionic composition of PM10 near Taj Mahal in Agra, India

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on the environment particularly on human health is an issue of significant public and governmental concern. Though studies on air quality related to total suspended particulate matter have done by various authors in India, yet respirable suspended particulate matter (PM(10)) is not characterized so far particularly in a historical and world heritage city like Agra. This study presents seasonal variation in mass levels of PM(10) and its ionic composition. PM(10) samples were collected in the proximity of Taj Mahal and subjected to chemical analysis using ion chromatography technique. The preliminary findings reveal that the 24-h average of PM(10) mass level varies from 115 to 233, 155 to 321, and 33 to 178 microg/m(3), respectively, in summer, winter, and rainy seasons indicating critical pollution situation. These values are very much higher than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of 75 microg/m(3) (prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board, India) in both of summer and winter seasons whereas quite near the permissible limits in rainy season. The equivalent ratios of NH(4)(+) to nonsea salt SO(4)(2-) and NO(3)(-) and summation operatorCations to summation operatorAnios were found to be greater than unity indicating high source strength of ammonia and alkaline nature of aerosols. The study suggests the need for continuous and long-term systematical sampling and detailed physiochemical analysis of PM(10) and also to know the characteristics of PM in background areas for better understanding of the emission sources.

Seasonal Characteristics of Water-Soluble Dicarboxylates Associated with PM10 in the Urban Atmosphere of Durg City, India

“…The PM 10 concentration ranged from 94 to 432 μg/m 3 with an average and standard deviation of 253.5 ± 99.4 μg/m 3 . The observed 24 hrs PM 10 mass concentrations in Durg City were significantly higher than the prescribed limits of 100 μg/m 3 (NAAQS) and 50 μg/m 3 (WHO) and also slightly higher than reported for other urban sites in India (Tiwari et al, 2009;Bhaskar and Mehta, 2010;Deshmukh et al, 2010a;Singh et al, 2010).…”

Characterization and Elemental Composition of Atmospheric Aerosol Loads during Springtime Dust Storm in Western Saudi Arabia

“…The negative relationship between PM fractions and relative humidity suggests that relative humidity removes atmospheric particulates and diminishes the amount of re-suspended soil dust by making the soil humid (Hien et al, 2002). In the Indian cities, negative relationship of relative humidity with PM mass concentrations was also found (Katiyar et al, 2002;Singh et al, 2010). On the other hand, the positive relationship between relative humidity and PM 2.5 and PM 1.0 in non-DS in the present study may be due to the depressins effect on diffusion of fine particles under high relative humidity.…”

The effect of climate and meteorological changes on particulate matter in Pune, India

“…Many other studies also indicate the similar trend in seasons (Gupta and Kumar 2006;Ravindra et al 2003). The non-parametric Spearman correlation was used as an important tool to gain some basic understanding as to how closely the mass levels of PM are related with meteorology and their emissions sources (Singh et al 2010). Table 3 depicts correlation coefficients (r) between meteorological parameters and daily mean PM with the significant levels (P<0.01 or P<0.05).…”