Title: Variations in mass concentrations of airborne particulate matter over tropical urban environment

Authors: K.V.S. Badarinath, Shailesh Kumar Kharol, V. Krishna Prasad, K. Madhavi Latha, Anu Rani Sharma, E.U.B. Reddy

Addresses: Atmospheric Science Section, National Remote Sensing Centre, Department of Space-Govt. of India, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 625, India. ' Atmospheric Science Section, National Remote Sensing Centre, Department of Space-Govt. of India, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 625, India. ' Agroecosystem Management Program, The Ohio State University, USA. ' Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK. ' Atmospheric Science Section, National Remote Sensing Centre, Department of Space-Govt. of India, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 625, India. ' Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India

Abstract: Particulate matter (PM) is an important component of the air pollution that has adverse health effects, ecosystem damage and degraded visibility. We analysed the seasonal variations in PM loading from ground-based measurements of PM1.0 and PM2.5, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Black Carbon (BC) aerosol over Hyderabad, India during January-June, 2006. The PM concentrations showed relatively higher values during winter period and lower values during summer. PM1.0 values showed positive correlation with BC, OMI-AI, MODIS-AOD and ground measured AOD. The seasonal variations in PM1.0 were attributed to vehicular traffic patterns, biomass burning and dust aerosols over the region.

Keywords: PM1.0; PM2.5; dust aerosols; black carbon; AOD; aerosol optical depth; MODIS; biomass burning sources; air pollution; air quality; India; particulate matter; vehicle emissions; traffic patterns, biomass burning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2010.035063

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2010 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.280 - 292

Published online: 02 Sep 2010 *

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