Abstract
Fine particles (PM2.5), collected on multiple filter substrates, were measured over Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal, central India, for 2 years (01 January 2012–31 December 2013). A thermal-optical carbon analyser (DRI 2001A) was used to measure carbon fractions on punches of quartz fibre filters. Total carbon contributed 38% to PM2.5 mass, of which pyrolysis corrected OC and EC contributed 27% and 11%, respectively. The seasonal averages of OC during the study duration were 22.5 ± 12.3 μg m−3 (post-monsoon) > 20 ± 12.3 μg m−3 (winter) > 8.3 ± 5.6 μg m−3 (pre-monsoon) > 6.4 ± 4.0 μg m−3 (monsoon). Daytime and nighttime OC and EC concentrations were not statistically different from one another, suggesting that local sources like traffic and diurnal meteorology driven effects did not influence these concentrations much. The value of mean OC/EC ratio was 4.2 ± 3.3 during the study period and was highest (6.1 ± 3.4) during the monsoon season. OC and EC concentrations were strongly correlated (r = 0.9), suggesting common primary sources for these species. SOC (secondary organic carbon) estimated by the EC tracer method constituted 31% of the total OC mass. Although SOC concentrations were low during the monsoons, its contribution to OC was maximum during this season (41% and 53% on average during 2012 and 2013, respectively), suggesting aqueous phase heterogeneous processing of SOC. Meteorological parameters and SOC exhibited no association, while only a weak correlation was observed between SO42− and SOC (r = 0.36), providing no clear indication on the likely role of SO42−-catalysed SOC formation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data used in this study will be made available upon request for use with proper credit.
References
Bisht DS, Dumka UC, Kaskaoutis DG, Pipal AS, Srivastava AK, Soni, V. K.,& Tiwari, S. (2015) Carbonaceous aerosols and pollutants over Delhi urban environment: temporal evolution, source apportionment and radiative forcing. Sci Total Environ 521:431–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.083
Cabada JC, Pandis SN, Subramanian R, Robinson AL, Polidori A, Turpin B (2004) Estimating the secondary organic aerosol contribution to PM2.5 using the EC tracer method special issue of aerosol science and technology on findings from the fine particulate matter supersites program. Aerosol Sci Technol 38(S1):140–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/02786820390229084
Cao G, Jang M (2007) Effects of particle acidity and UV light on secondary organic aerosol formation from oxidation of aromatics in the absence of NOx. Atmos Environ 41(35):7603–7613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.05.034
Chatterjee A, Dutta C, Jana TK, Sen S (2012) Fine mode aerosol chemistry over a tropical urban atmosphere: characterization of ionic and carbonaceous species. J Atmos Chem 69(2):83–100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-012-9231-8
Feng Y, Chen Y, Guo H, Zhi G, Xiong S, Li J, Fu J (2009) Characteristics of organic and elemental carbon in PM2.5 samples in Shanghai, China. Atmos Res 92(4):434–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2009.01.003
Gawhane RD, Rao PSP, Budhavant K, Meshram DC, Safai PD (2019) Anthropogenic fine aerosols dominate over the Pune region, Southwest India. Meteorog Atmos Phys 131(5):1497–1508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-018-0653-y
Gilardoni S, Massoli P, Paglione M, Giulianelli L, Carbone C, Rinaldi M, Pietrogrande MC (2016) Direct observation of aqueous secondary organic aerosol from biomass-burning emissions. PNAS 113(36):10013–10018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1602212113
Joseph AE, Unnikrishnan S, Kumar R (2012) Chemical characterization and mass closure of fine aerosol for different land use patterns in Mumbai city. Aerosol Air Qual Res 12(1):61–72. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2011.04.0049
Kanakidou M, Seinfeld JH, Pandis SN, Barnes I, Dentener FJ, Facchini MC, Swietlicki E (2005) Organic aerosol and global climate modelling: a review. Atmos Chem Phys 5(4):1053–1123 0031680-7324/acp/2005-5-1053
Kaul DS, Gupta T, Tripathi SN, Tare V, Collett JL Jr (2011) Secondary organic aerosol: a comparison between foggy and non-foggy days. Environ Sci Technol 45(17):7307–7313. https://doi.org/10.1021/es201081
Kumar S, Sunder Raman R (2016) Inorganic ions in ambient fine particles over a National Park in central India: seasonality, dependencies between SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+, and neutralization of aerosol acidity. Atmos Environ 143:152–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.08.037
Kumar S, Sunder Raman R (2020) Source apportionment of fine particulate matter over a National Park in Central India. Sci Total Environ 720:137511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137511
Meng J, Wang G, Li J, Cheng C, Ren Y, Huang Y, Zhang T (2014) Seasonal characteristics of oxalic acid and related SOA in the free troposphere of Mt. Hua, central China: implications for sources and formation mechanisms. Sci Total Environ 493:1088–1097. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.04.086
Panda S, Sharma SK, Mahapatra PS, Panda U, Rath S, Mahapatra M, Das T (2016) Organic and elemental carbon variation in PM 2.5 over megacity Delhi and Bhubaneswar, a semi-urban coastal site in India. Nat Hazards 80(3):1709–1728. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2049-3
Panicker AS, Ali K, Beig G, Yadav S (2015) Characterization of particulate matter and carbonaceous aerosol over two urban environments in northern India. Aerosol Air Qual Res 15(7):2584–2595. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.04.0253
Reddy CS, Alekhya VP, Saranya KRL, Athira K, Jha CS, Diwakar PG, Dadhwal VK (2017) Monitoring of fire incidences in vegetation types and protected areas of India: implications on carbon emissions. J Earth Syst Sci 126(1):11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-016-0791-x
Rengarajan R, Sudheer AK, Sarin MM (2011) Aerosol acidity and secondary organic aerosol formation during wintertime over urban environment in western India. Atmos Environ 45(11):1940–1945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.01.026
Schauer JJ, Kleeman MJ, Cass GR, Simoneit BRT (2002) Measurement of emissions from air pollution sources. 5. C1−C32 organic compounds from gasoline-powered motor vehicles. Environ Sci Technol 36(6):1169–1180. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0108077
Singh R, Kulshrestha MJ, Kumar B, Chandra S (2016) Impact of anthropogenic emissions and open biomass burning on carbonaceous aerosols in urban and rural environments of Indo-Gangetic Plain. Air Qual Atmos Health 9(7):809–822
Strader R, Lurmann F, Pandis S (1999) Evaluation of secondary organic aerosol formation in winter. Atmos Environ 33:4849–4863. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(99)00310-6
Sunder Raman R, Hopke PK, Holsen TM (2008) Carbonaceous aerosol at two rural locations in New York State: characterization and behavior. J Geophys Res Atmos 113(D12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009281
Turpin BJ, Huntzicker JJ, Larson SM, Cass GR (1991) Los Angeles summer midday particulate carbon: primary and secondary aerosol. Environ Sci Technol 25:1788–1793. https://doi.org/10.1021/es00022a017
Venkataraman C, Bhushan M, Dey S, Ganguly D, Gupta T, Habib, G.,& Sunder Raman, R. (2020) Indian network project on Carbonaceous Aerosol Emissions, Source Apportionment and Climate Impacts (COALESCE). Bull Am Meteorol Soc 29:3527–3544. https://doi.org/10.1016/1352-2310(94)00276-Q
Xu Z, Wen T, Li X, Wang J, Wang Y (2015) Characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols in Beijing based on two-year observation. Atmos Pollut Res 6(2):202–208. https://doi.org/10.5094/APR.2015.024
Yang HH, Arafath SM, Wang YF, Wu JY, Lee KT, Hsieh YS (2018) Comparison of coal-and oil-fired boilers through the investigation of filterable and condensable PM2.5 sample analysis. Energy Fuels 32(3):2993–3002. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b03541
Yu JZ, Xu J, Yang H (2002) Charring characteristics of atmospheric organic particulate matter in thermal analysis. Environ Sci Technol 36(4):754–761. https://doi.org/10.1021/es015540q
Zhang Y, Sheesley RJ, Schauer JJ, Lewandowski M, Jaoui M, Offenberg JH, Kleindienst TE, Edney EO (2009) Source apportionment of primary and secondary organic aerosols using positive matrix factorization (PMF) of molecular markers. Atmos Environ 43:5567–5574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.02.047
Web references
DRI 2012 SOP accessible online via http://vista.cira.colostate.edu/improve/Publications/SOPs/DRI_SOPs/2012/IMPROVEA_2-216r3_20121022small.pdf last accessed online on 28th Aug 2020
Report on Energy Statistics 2017, MoPS http://www.mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/Energy_Statistics_2017r.pdf.pdf last accessed online on 28th Aug 2020
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their gratitude and acknowledge the support of Director and all officials of Van Vihar National Park in setting up and running the measurement station. The authors would also like to acknowledge and thank field assistant Mr. Krishna Malviya and lab assistant Mr. Surendra Mehra for their contributions to sampling and chemical analysis. The authors gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for providing the HYSPLIT transport (https://ready.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php) and NASA (https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/) for fire count maps used in this publication.
Funding
This work was supported by the Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India, to conduct this study through Project no. MoES/16/09-RDEAS. A part of the fellowship for Samresh Kumar was supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, through CREST at IISER Bhopal vide MHRD/FAST/2016-17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Shilpi Samiksha—chemical analysis, data curation, formal analysis, preparation of plots and draft manuscript; Samresh Kumar—sample collection, chemical analysis, data curation and contribution to draft manuscript; Ramya Sunder Raman—conceptualization, securing funds, supervision, editing and preparation of final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this document are solely those of authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministries. The Ministries do not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Code availability
Not applicable
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(PDF 1034 kb).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Samiksha, S., Kumar, S. & Sunder Raman, R. Two-year record of carbonaceous fraction in ambient PM2.5 over a forested location in central India: temporal characteristics and estimation of secondary organic carbon. Air Qual Atmos Health 14, 473–480 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00951-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00951-2