Title: A comparison of air quality indices for a port and harbour region in India

Authors: A.K. Gupta, Rashmi S. Patil, S.K. Gupta

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India. ' Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India. ' Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India

Abstract: The present paper discusses and compares four different air quality indices, viz. arithmetic, multiplicative, unweighted arithmetic, and unweighted multiplicative, which were considered for characterising the coastal air quality at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai, India. Suspended particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and sulphur dioxide were used as the parameters of air quality indices. Value function graphs for above-mentioned variables were developed using Indian ambient air quality standards for different areas. Product moment correlation coefficients for various air quality indices were determined using the SPSS software package to evaluate correlation among various indices.

Keywords: air quality indices; coastal area; port; harbour; suspended particulate matter; nitrogen oxide; NO_x; sulphur dioxide; SO₂; correlation; environmental management; air pollution; India; pollution control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2006.009324

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2006 Vol.26 No.4, pp.313 - 326

Published online: 20 Mar 2006 *

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