Air pollutant levels are 12 times higher than guidelines in Varanasi, India. Sources and transfer

作者：Mukherjee Arideep; Agrawal Madhoolika^*

来源：Environmental Chemistry Letters, 2018, 16(3): 1009-1016.

DOI：10.1007/s10311-018-0706-y

• Particulate matter
• PM10
• Indo-Gangetic plain
• Trajectory statistical models
• Source
• Urban

Air quality in an urban atmosphere is regulated by both local and distant emission sources. For air quality management in urban areas, identification of sources and their relationships with local meteorology and air pollutants are essential. The critical condition of air quality in Indo-Gangetic plain is well known, but lack of data on both local and distant emission sources limits the scope of improving air quality in this region. Concentrations of particulate matter of size lower than 10 mu m (PM10) were assessed in the highly urbanized Varanasi city situated in middle Indo-Gangetic plain of India from 2014 to 2017, to identify the distant air pollution sources based on trajectory statistical models and local sources by conditional bivariate probability function. Modifying effects of meteorology and air pollutants on PM10 were also explored. Mean PM10 concentration for the study period was 244.8 +/- 135.8 mu g m(-3), which was 12 times higher than the WHO annual guideline. Several distinct sources of traffic as the major source of PM10 were identified in the city. Trajectory statistical models like cluster analysis, potential source contribution function and concentration-weighted trajectory showed significant contributions from north-west and eastern directions in the transport of polluted air masses to the city. Dew point, wind speed, temperature and ventilation coefficient are the major factors in PM10 formation and dispersion.

• 出版日期2018-9