scholarly journals Ambient air quality of Kathmandu valley as reflected by atmospheric particulate matter concentrations (PM10)

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Giri ◽  
K. V. Murthy ◽  
P. R. Adhikary ◽  
S. N. Khanal
Author(s):  
Durdana Rais Hashmi ◽  
Akhtar Shareef

The present study examines the variation of ambient aerosol (PM10) concentrations in Karachi, city. Samples were collected from ten different locations, representative of urban background, residential, traffic and industrial areas from 2007 to 2011. At each location, PM10 was measured continuously from 08:00 am to 06:00 pm at local time. The maximum 10 h average particulate matter (PM10) mass concentrations were found at Tibet Centre (440.1mg/m3) and minimum at PCSIR Campus (21.7mg/m3) during 2008. A rising trend during 2008 may be due to the civil works for bridges and extension of roads at different locations in Karachi. The results also suggest that urban traffic and industrial areas appeared to have higher PM10 concentration than residential and background areas.


Chemosphere ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 1296-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. González-Castanedo ◽  
D. Sanchez-Rodas ◽  
A.M. Sánchez de la Campa ◽  
M. Pandolfi ◽  
A. Alastuey ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1&2) ◽  
pp. 113-119
Author(s):  
Anil K. Raina ◽  
Anita Sharma

The monitoring of ambient air quality of Katra (one of the important town of Jammu from economic as well as religious point of view), at selected locations of residential areas, commercial areas and traffic crossings with respect to particulate matter (both respirable and non-respirable) has been conducted for a period of two years i.e. July 2010 – June 2012. Large variations in ambient particulate matter concentrations have been observed throughout the study period. Seasonally, the particulate matter exhibited low values during monsoon period and high values during post-monsoon period. The concentration of particulates (both respirable and non-respirable) in post monsoon season exceeded the concentrations than that of other seasons at most of the sites, thereby signifying the impact of local factors on pollutant concentrations, besides the impact of meteorological factors. Higher concentrations have been recorded in the year 2011-2012 as compared to 2010-2011 at all the sites except traffic crossings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 2927-2951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Robiul Islam ◽  
Thilina Jayarathne ◽  
Isobel J. Simpson ◽  
Benjamin Werden ◽  
John Maben ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is a bowl-shaped urban basin that experiences severe air pollution that poses health risks to its 3.5 million inhabitants. As part of the Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment (NAMaSTE), ambient air quality in the Kathmandu Valley was investigated from 11 to 24 April 2015, during the pre-monsoon season. Ambient concentrations of fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively), online PM1, inorganic trace gases (NH3, HNO3, SO2, and HCl), and carbon-containing gases (CO2, CO, CH4, and 93 non-methane volatile organic compounds; NMVOCs) were quantified at a semi-urban location near the center of the valley. Concentrations and ratios of NMVOC indicated origins primarily from poorly maintained vehicle emissions, biomass burning, and solvent/gasoline evaporation. During those 2 weeks, daily average PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 30 to 207 µg m−3, which exceeded the World Health Organization 24 h guideline by factors of 1.2 to 8.3. On average, the non-water mass of PM2.5 was composed of organic matter (48 %), elemental carbon (13 %), sulfate (16 %), nitrate (4 %), ammonium (9 %), chloride (2 %), calcium (1 %), magnesium (0.05 %), and potassium (1 %). Large diurnal variability in temperature and relative humidity drove corresponding variability in aerosol liquid water content, the gas–aerosol phase partitioning of NH3, HNO3, and HCl, and aerosol solution pH. The observed levels of gas-phase halogens suggest that multiphase halogen-radical chemistry involving both Cl and Br impacted regional air quality. To gain insight into the origins of organic carbon (OC), molecular markers for primary and secondary sources were quantified. Levoglucosan (averaging 1230±1154 ng m−3), 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (0.8±0.6 ng m−3), cholesterol (2.9±6.6 ng m−3), stigmastanol (1.0 ±0.8 ng m−3), and cis-pinonic acid (4.5±1.9 ng m−3) indicate contributions from biomass burning, garbage burning, food cooking, cow dung burning, and monoterpene secondary organic aerosol, respectively. Drawing on source profiles developed in NAMaSTE, chemical mass balance (CMB) source apportionment modeling was used to estimate contributions to OC from major primary sources including garbage burning (18±5 %), biomass burning (17±10 %) inclusive of open burning and biomass-fueled cooking stoves, and internal-combustion (gasoline and diesel) engines (18±9 %). Model sensitivity tests with newly developed source profiles indicated contributions from biomass burning within a factor of 2 of previous estimates but greater contributions from garbage burning (up to three times), indicating large potential impacts of garbage burning on regional air quality and the need for further evaluation of this source. Contributions of secondary organic carbon (SOC) to PM2.5 OC included those originating from anthropogenic precursors such as naphthalene (10±4 %) and methylnaphthalene (0.3±0.1 %) and biogenic precursors for monoterpenes (0.13±0.07 %) and sesquiterpenes (5±2 %). An average of 25 % of the PM2.5 OC was unapportioned, indicating the presence of additional sources (e.g., evaporative and/or industrial emissions such as brick kilns, food cooking, and other types of SOC) and/or underestimation of the contributions from the identified source types. The source apportionment results indicate that anthropogenic combustion sources (including biomass burning, garbage burning, and fossil fuel combustion) were the greatest contributors to PM2.5 and, as such, should be considered primary targets for controlling ambient PM pollution.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Robiul Islam ◽  
Thilina Jayarathne ◽  
Isobel J. Simpson ◽  
Benjamin Werden ◽  
John Maben ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is a bowl-shaped urban basin that experiences severe air pollution that poses health risks to its 3.5 million inhabitants. As part of the Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment (NAMaSTE), ambient air quality in the Kathmandu Valley was investigated from 11 to 24 April 2015, during the pre-monsoon season. Ambient concentrations of fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively), online PM1, inorganic trace gases (NH3, HNO3, SO2, and HCl), and carbon-containing gases (CO2, CO, CH4, and 85 non-methane volatile organic compounds; NMVOC) were quantified at a semi-urban location near the center of the valley. Concentrations and ratios of NMVOC indicated that origins primarily from poorly-maintained vehicle emissions, biomass burning, and solvent/gasoline evaporation. During those two weeks, daily average PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 30 to 207 µg m−3, which exceeded the World Health Organization 24 hour guideline by factors of 1.2 to 8.3. On average, the non-water mass of PM2.5 was composed of organic matter (48 %), elemental carbon (13 %), sulfate (16 %), nitrate (4 %), ammonium (9 %), chloride (2 %), calcium (1 %), magnesium (0.05 %), and potassium (1 %). Large diurnal variability in temperature and relative humidity drove corresponding variability in aerosol liquid water content, the gas-aerosol phase partitioning of NH3, HNO3, and HCl, and aerosol solution pH. The observed levels of gas-phase halogens suggest that multiphase halogen-radical chemistry involving both Cl and Br impacted regional air quality. To gain insight into the origins of organic carbon (OC), molecular markers for primary and secondary sources were quantified. Levoglucosan (1230 ± 1153 ng m−3), 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (0.8 ±0.5 ng m−3), cholesterol (3.0 ± 6.7 ng m−3), stigmastanol (1.4 ± 6.7 ng m−3), and cis-pinonic acid (4.5 ± 0.6 ng m−3) indicate contributions from biomass burning, garbage burning, food cooking, cow-dung burning, and monoterpene secondary organic aerosol, respectively. Drawing on source profiles developed in NAMaSTE, chemical mass balance (CMB) source apportionment modeling was used to estimate contributions to OC from major primary sources including garbage burning (18 ± 5 %), biomass burning (17 ± 10 %) inclusive of open burning and biomass-fueled cooking stoves, and internal-combustion (gasoline and diesel) engines (18 ± 9 %). Model sensitivity tests with newly-developed source profiles indicated contributions from biomass burning within a factor of two of previous estimates, but relatively greater contributions from garbage burning (up to three times), indicating large potential impacts of garbage burning on regional air quality and the need for further evaluation of this source. Contributions of secondary organic carbon (SOC) to PM2.5 OC included those originating from anthropogenic precursors for naphthalene (10 ± 4 %) and methylnaphthalene (0.3 ± 0.1 %) and biogenic precursors for monoterpenes (0.13 ± 0.07 %) and sesquiterpenes (5 ± 2 %). An average of 25 % of the PM2.5 OC was unapportioned, indicating the presence of additional sources (e.g., evaporative and/or industrial emissions such as brick kilns, food cooking, and other types of SOC) or underestimation of the contributions from the identified source types. The source apportionment results indicate that anthropogenic combustion sources (including biomass burning, garbage burning, and fossil-fuel combustion) were the greatest contributors to PM2.5 and, as such, should be considered primary targets for controlling ambient PM pollution.


Urban Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 100945
Author(s):  
Mayank Pandey ◽  
M.P. George ◽  
R.K. Gupta ◽  
Deepak Gusain ◽  
Atul Dwivedi

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurdeep Singh ◽  
Amarjeet Singh

India is in the list of fastest growing countries of the world. India's energy needs are also increasing due to population and industrial growth for improving quality of living style. In India, coal is major input infrastructure industries for example Power plants, Steel plants and Cement industries. India’s 52% of primary energy is coal dependent1. 66% of India's power generation depends upon coal production1. Jharia Coalfield (JCF) is falling in the Lower Gondwana Coalfields of India. The area of the JCF is about 450 km2. It is important for the major supply of precious coking coal required for steel plants in India. It is located in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand state of India, The latitude is 23° 39' to 23° 48' N and longitude is 86° 11' to 86° 27' E for the Jharia coalfield. Based on environmental parameters, all the 103 mines of BCCL have been grouped under 17 Clusters. A cluster consists of a group of mines with mine lease boundary lying in close vicinity and includes-Operating mines, Abandoned/ closed mines and proposed projects.The focused study area is in the western part of the Jharia coalfield is named as Cluster XV group of mines of BCCL consists of four mines, Kharkharee Colliery (UG), Dharmaband Colliery (UG), Madhuband Colliery (UG) and Phularitand Colliery (UG) .The present study was carried out with the objective to measure the ambient air quality of the study area with reference to particulate matter (SPM, PM10 & PM2.5). Ambient air monitoring results have shown that the observe air quality were found within the limit prescribed by MoEF / CPCB. It may due to Underground mines as there are pollution causing lesser activities involved in the UG mining process compared to opencast mining. Implementation of Master plan for Jharia coalfields for environmental management has also improve the air quality in the area10,11.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document