Number and mass of ultrafine, fine and coarse atmospheric particles during different seasons at Agra, India
Abstract:
In the urban atmosphere, adverse health effects of airborne particles cause great concern. Some toxicological studies show that ultrafine particles exert a much stronger physiological effect than the same mass of coarse particles due to an increase both in the number and relative surface area as compared to particles of larger size. The present study deals with the particle number, mass, volume and surface area - size distribution of atmospheric particulate matter to determine their relative proportions in the Ultrafine (< 500 nm), Fine (< 2.5μm) and Coarse (< 10 μm) particles at Agra. The particles collected were analyzed for their mass and number simultaneously during winter, summer and monsoon seasons using an optical particle counter Grimm monitor, 31-Channel Portable Aerosol Spectrometer model No: 1.109 in the range of 0.25-32 μm. The results indicated that the average number concentration was highest in summer (286399.1 cm-3) followed by winter (109155.7 cm-3) and monsoon season (67390.68 cm-3). The concentrations were 2.63 and 4.24 times higher during winter and monsoon season than summer months. Higher concentration was attributed to local as well as long range transport of particles. The long range transport of aerosol particles is also supported by back trajectory analysis. The average number concentration of coarse particles was 2.41 times higher in summer season which indicate that dust storms during summer period have major proportion of coarse particles. The wash out effect during monsoon causes significant decrease of particles therefore the concentrations were found to be much lower.
Keywords:
Atmospheric aerosols, number concentration, mass concentration, EM/EDX.
Authors:
Tripti Pachauri, Vyoma Singla, Aparna Satsangi, Anita Lakhani and Maharaj Kumari K.
Institution:
Department of Chemistry, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh,
Agra - 282110, India
Corresponding author:
Maharaj Kumari K.
Article Citation:
Tripti Pachauri, Vyoma Singla, Aparna Satsangi, Anita Lakhani, K. Maharaj Kumari.
Number and mass of ultrafine, fine and coarse atmospheric particles during different seasons at Agra, India.
Journal of Research in Ecology (2012) 1: 006-013
Dates:
Received: 02 Jan 2012 /Accepted: 19 Jan 2012 /Published: 04 Feb 2012
License:
This Open Access article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution, and reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Refeences:
Chun Y, Kim J, Choi JC, Boo KO, Oh SN, Lee M. 2001. Characteristic number size distribution of aerosol during Asian dust period in Korea. Atmos Environ., 35:2715-2721.
Clarke AD. 2004. Size distributions and mixtures of dust and black carbon aerosol in Asian outflow: physiochemistry and optical properties. J Geophys Res., 109, D15S09. doi:10.1029/2003JD004378.
Conner TL, Norris GA, Landis MS and Williams RW. 2001. Individual particle analysis of indoor, outdoor and community samples from the 1998 Baltimore particulate matter study. Atmos Environ., 35:3935-3946.
Draxler RR and Rolph GD. 2003. HYSPLIT Model Acess via NOAA ARL READY. NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD. http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html .
Esbert RM, Diaz Pache F, Grossi CM, Alonso FJ and Ordaz J. 2001. Airborne particulate matter around the Cathedral of Burgos (Castilla y LeoHn, Spain). Atmos Environ., 35:441-452.
Harrison RM, Shi JP, Jones MR. 1999. Continuous measurements of aerosol physical properties in the urban atmosphere. Atmos Environ., 33:1037-1047.
Lin TH. 2001. Long-range transport of yellow sand to Taiwan in spring 2000: Observed evidence and simulation. Atmos Environ., 31:5873-5882.
Pandithurai GS, Dipu K, Dani K, Tiwari S, Bisht DS, Devara PCS and Pinker RT. 2008. Aerosol radiative forcing during dust events over New Delhi, India. J Geophys Res., 113, D13209, doi:10.1029/2008JD009804.
Parmar RS, Satsangi GS, Kumari M, Lakhani A, Srivastava SS, Prakash S. 2001. Study of size distribution of atmospheric aerosol at Agra. Atmos Environ., 35:693-702.
Ramanathan V, Crutzen PJ, Kiehl JT. 2001. Climate and the hydrological cycle. Sci., 294:2119-2124.
Salma I, Maenhaut W, Zemplén-Papp E and Záray G. 2001. Comprehensive characterization of atmospheric aerosols in Budapest, Hungary: physicochemical properties of inorganic species Atmos Environ., 35(25):4367-4378.
Seinfeld JH, Pandis SN. 1998. Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to climate change [M]. New York. Wiley.
Tuch TH, Brand P, Wichmann HE and Heyder J. 1997. Variation of particle number and mass concentration in various size ranges of ambient aerosol in Eastern Germany. Atmos. Environ., 24:4193-4197.
Wang Y, Zhuang G, Sun Y, An Z. 2006. The variation of characteristics and formation mechanisms of aerosols in dust, haze, and clear days in Beijing. Atmos Environ., 40:6579-6591.
Wichmann H, Peters A. 2000. Epidemiological evidence of the effects of ultrafine particle exposure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 358:2751-769.
Wu Z, Hu M, Lin P, Liu S, Wehner B, Wiedensohler A. 2008. Particle number size distribution in the urban atmosphere of Beijing, China. Atmos Environ., 42:7967-7980.
In the urban atmosphere, adverse health effects of airborne particles cause great concern. Some toxicological studies show that ultrafine particles exert a much stronger physiological effect than the same mass of coarse particles due to an increase both in the number and relative surface area as compared to particles of larger size. The present study deals with the particle number, mass, volume and surface area - size distribution of atmospheric particulate matter to determine their relative proportions in the Ultrafine (< 500 nm), Fine (< 2.5μm) and Coarse (< 10 μm) particles at Agra. The particles collected were analyzed for their mass and number simultaneously during winter, summer and monsoon seasons using an optical particle counter Grimm monitor, 31-Channel Portable Aerosol Spectrometer model No: 1.109 in the range of 0.25-32 μm. The results indicated that the average number concentration was highest in summer (286399.1 cm-3) followed by winter (109155.7 cm-3) and monsoon season (67390.68 cm-3). The concentrations were 2.63 and 4.24 times higher during winter and monsoon season than summer months. Higher concentration was attributed to local as well as long range transport of particles. The long range transport of aerosol particles is also supported by back trajectory analysis. The average number concentration of coarse particles was 2.41 times higher in summer season which indicate that dust storms during summer period have major proportion of coarse particles. The wash out effect during monsoon causes significant decrease of particles therefore the concentrations were found to be much lower.
Keywords:
Atmospheric aerosols, number concentration, mass concentration, EM/EDX.
Authors:
Tripti Pachauri, Vyoma Singla, Aparna Satsangi, Anita Lakhani and Maharaj Kumari K.
Institution:
Department of Chemistry, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh,
Agra - 282110, India
Corresponding author:
Maharaj Kumari K.
Article Citation:
Tripti Pachauri, Vyoma Singla, Aparna Satsangi, Anita Lakhani, K. Maharaj Kumari.
Number and mass of ultrafine, fine and coarse atmospheric particles during different seasons at Agra, India.
Journal of Research in Ecology (2012) 1: 006-013
Dates:
Received: 02 Jan 2012 /Accepted: 19 Jan 2012 /Published: 04 Feb 2012
License:
This Open Access article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution, and reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Refeences:
Chun Y, Kim J, Choi JC, Boo KO, Oh SN, Lee M. 2001. Characteristic number size distribution of aerosol during Asian dust period in Korea. Atmos Environ., 35:2715-2721.
Clarke AD. 2004. Size distributions and mixtures of dust and black carbon aerosol in Asian outflow: physiochemistry and optical properties. J Geophys Res., 109, D15S09. doi:10.1029/2003JD004378.
Conner TL, Norris GA, Landis MS and Williams RW. 2001. Individual particle analysis of indoor, outdoor and community samples from the 1998 Baltimore particulate matter study. Atmos Environ., 35:3935-3946.
Draxler RR and Rolph GD. 2003. HYSPLIT Model Acess via NOAA ARL READY. NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD. http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html .
Esbert RM, Diaz Pache F, Grossi CM, Alonso FJ and Ordaz J. 2001. Airborne particulate matter around the Cathedral of Burgos (Castilla y LeoHn, Spain). Atmos Environ., 35:441-452.
Harrison RM, Shi JP, Jones MR. 1999. Continuous measurements of aerosol physical properties in the urban atmosphere. Atmos Environ., 33:1037-1047.
Lin TH. 2001. Long-range transport of yellow sand to Taiwan in spring 2000: Observed evidence and simulation. Atmos Environ., 31:5873-5882.
Pandithurai GS, Dipu K, Dani K, Tiwari S, Bisht DS, Devara PCS and Pinker RT. 2008. Aerosol radiative forcing during dust events over New Delhi, India. J Geophys Res., 113, D13209, doi:10.1029/2008JD009804.
Parmar RS, Satsangi GS, Kumari M, Lakhani A, Srivastava SS, Prakash S. 2001. Study of size distribution of atmospheric aerosol at Agra. Atmos Environ., 35:693-702.
Ramanathan V, Crutzen PJ, Kiehl JT. 2001. Climate and the hydrological cycle. Sci., 294:2119-2124.
Salma I, Maenhaut W, Zemplén-Papp E and Záray G. 2001. Comprehensive characterization of atmospheric aerosols in Budapest, Hungary: physicochemical properties of inorganic species Atmos Environ., 35(25):4367-4378.
Seinfeld JH, Pandis SN. 1998. Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to climate change [M]. New York. Wiley.
Tuch TH, Brand P, Wichmann HE and Heyder J. 1997. Variation of particle number and mass concentration in various size ranges of ambient aerosol in Eastern Germany. Atmos. Environ., 24:4193-4197.
Wang Y, Zhuang G, Sun Y, An Z. 2006. The variation of characteristics and formation mechanisms of aerosols in dust, haze, and clear days in Beijing. Atmos Environ., 40:6579-6591.
Wichmann H, Peters A. 2000. Epidemiological evidence of the effects of ultrafine particle exposure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 358:2751-769.
Wu Z, Hu M, Lin P, Liu S, Wehner B, Wiedensohler A. 2008. Particle number size distribution in the urban atmosphere of Beijing, China. Atmos Environ., 42:7967-7980.
