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Black carbon aerosols over a semi-arid rain shadow location in Peninsular India: Temporal variability and sources

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Abstract

Continuous measurements of absorbing carbonaceous aerosol termed as black carbon (BC) have been carried out during April 2017 to March 2018 over Solapur, a semi-arid, rain shadow location in Peninsular India using a multi-wavelength Aethalometer (AE-33). Statistically significant higher values of BC were observed during the dry period (December–May, mean BC 4.3±1.2 µg m–3) as compared to the wet period (June–October, mean BC 1.0 ± 0.15 µg m–3). Hourly variation depicted an almost similar pattern in both wet and dry periods with a dominant morning peak followed by afternoon low and then a heightened plateau during the evening to midnight hours. The absorbing Angstrom exponent (AAE) value was 1.36 ± 0.16 and 1.10 ± 0.22, respectively, during dry and wet periods with an annual mean of 1.22 ± 0.23. The source apportionment of BC using the Aethalometer model depicts the dominance of fossil fuel burning throughout the year especially high during the wet period (89±11% to total BC) whereas biomass burning contributed significantly during the dry period (30±14% to total BC). The observed temporal variation of BC was mainly due to the varying strength of BC emission sources and changes in local meteorological parameters. In addition, long-range transport from other regions might have also contributed during certain periods as seen from the cluster and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune for his support and encouragement during the entire CAIPEEX ground campaign. Thanks are due to the Head, Environmental Sciences Department, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune for his support and guidance. The authors wish to express their gratitude to all the team members of CAIPEEX laboratory at Solapur for their help and co-operation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India

    P S Soyam

  2. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India

    P D Safai, S Mukherjee, K Todekar, S Bankar, D Gurnule, N Malap & T Prabhakaran

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  1. P S Soyam
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  2. P D Safai
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  3. S Mukherjee
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Contributions

PSS designed the study, did data compilation, primary analysis and draft paper writing. PDS helped in data interpretation and editing of the paper. SM helped with discussion and writing on trajectory-related analysis. KT, SB, DG and NM were responsible for conducting the observations and data collection. TP was responsible for the overall project administration and management of the observational campaign and helped in data interpretation.

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Correspondence to P D Safai.

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Communicated by Suresh Babu

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Soyam, P.S., Safai, P.D., Mukherjee, S. et al. Black carbon aerosols over a semi-arid rain shadow location in Peninsular India: Temporal variability and sources. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 95 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-021-01610-5

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