Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Roshan Jha, Arpita Mondal, Anjana Devanand, M. K. Roxy, Subimal Ghosh
Summary: Irrigation effects on heat stress are overestimated in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, while aerosol abundance has a significant impact on land surface temperature.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Atinderpal Singh, Anil Patel, R. Satish, S. N. Tripathi, Neeraj Rastogi
Summary: This study investigated the oxidative potential (OP) of PM2.5 and identified the main sources responsible for the observed OP in the winter season in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. The results showed that secondary aerosols had the highest contribution to OP.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shivali Verma, Muvva Ramana, Raj Kumar
Summary: The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) experience persistent and widespread fog and haze during the winter season, which is attributed to the rise in pollution levels and water vapor. This study detects moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea, known as atmospheric rivers (AR), which intermittently land-fall along the west coast of India during winter. These AR events significantly enhance water vapor over the IGP region, fueling the intensification of fog and haze through aerosol-water vapor interaction. The study also finds that the moist-laden winds in ARs contribute to precipitation in the Himalayan Mountains, explaining the observed rise in western Himalayan river flow during winter.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Srishti Jain, Sudhir Kumar Sharma, Manoj K. Srivastava, Abhijit Chatterjee, Narayanswami Vijayan, S. Swarupa Tripathy, K. Maharaj Kumari, Tuhin Kumar Mandal, Chhemendra Sharma
Summary: The study revealed that in the Indo Gangetic Plain of India, the main sources of PM2.5 and PM10 include vehicular emissions, secondary aerosols, biomass burning, and soil dust, with the presence of strong local pollution sources as well as pollutants coming from parts of Pakistan, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Bangladesh.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Asha B. Chelani, Sneha Gautam
Summary: The study examines the temporal variations in PM2.5 concentrations during dry and wet periods using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. The study focuses on the Indo-Gangetic Plain region and explores the washout effect of rainfall on PM2.5 concentration characteristics. The results show multifractal properties in the PM2.5 time series regardless of the season, with reduced multifractal strength during the wet period. The findings suggest the contribution of irregular probability distribution and long-range correlations to the multifractality of PM2.5 data series.
WATER AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Fabien Paulot, Vaishali Naik, Larry W. Horowitz
Summary: This study analyzes the relationship between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and meteorology in winter in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). It is found that the concentration of PM2.5 increases with decreasing surface wind speed in most cities considered. The study estimates that the reduction in surface wind speed caused by increasing CO2 levels will lead to higher PM2.5 concentrations and more frequent high-pollution events. Additionally, the study suggests that the reduction in frequency and intensity of western disturbances with increasing CO2 may contribute to the decrease in surface wind in the IGP.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Prayagraj Singh, Aditya Vaishya, Shantanu Rastogi
Summary: The impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on aerosol properties over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) was investigated. The study reveals a significant reduction in aerosol optical depth (AOD) and black carbon (BC) concentration during the lockdown period compared to previous years, indicating improvements in air quality. The observed absolute reduction in AOD and BC in the IGP is higher than the global average reduction.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Annada Padhi, Mahak Bansal, Gazala Habib, Shilpi Samiksha, Ramya Sunder Raman
Summary: The current study aimed to capture the real-world emissions from the combustion of mixed biomass fuel in traditional mud cookstoves during cooking in rural kitchens of Uttar-Pradesh, India. The study examined the combustion characteristics and emissions of different cooking processes, including boiling, frying, sauteing, and baking. The results showed variations in emission factors for different pollutants and cooking processes, with frying and sauteing being more consistent in emissions. The study also reported high concentrations of toxic trace metals in the emissions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Anshumala Sharma, Puja Khare, Nahar Singh, Suresh Tiwari, D. M. Chate, Ranjit Kumar
Summary: This study investigated the concentration and sources of heavy metals in rainwater in a semi-arid region of the Indo-Gangetic basin. The study found that during the monsoon period, sea salt components were the dominant source of heavy metals, while during the non-monsoon period, crustal components were the main source. The study also highlighted the significant influence of wind direction and scavenging ratio on the concentration of heavy metals in rainwater.
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Sachin D. Ghude, R. K. Jenamani, Rachana Kulkarni, Sandeep Wagh, Narendra G. Dhangar, Avinash N. Parde, Prodip Acharja, Prasanna Lonkar, Gaurav Govardhan, Prafull Yadav, Akash Vispute, Sreyashi Debnath, D. M. Lal, D. S. Bisht, Chinmay Jena, Pooja Pawar, Surendra S. Dhankhar, V. Sinha, D. M. Chate, P. D. Safai, N. Nigam, Mahen Konwar, Anupam Hazra, T. Dharmaraj, V. Gopalkrishnan, B. Padmakumari, Ismail Gultepe, Mrinal Biswas, A. K. Karipot, Thara Prabhakaran, Ravi S. Nanjundiah, M. Rajeevan
Summary: Persistent heavy fog in northern India during winter disrupts transportation systems and affects the lives of about 400 million people. The causes and predictability of the fog in this region are not yet fully understood. The WiFEX initiative aims to develop a fog forecasting capability through extensive research and field observations.
BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
D. Ray, S. Raha
Summary: This paper analyzed data from 27 urban sites in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and found that during the lockdown, the concentrations of primary emission products decreased while the concentration of secondary photochemical product O3 increased. The O3 concentration increased in the upper and central regions, but decreased in the lower region of the IGP. The decline in NO/NO2 ratio in the upper and central regions could be attributed to the intrusion of polluted continental air mass, while the decrease in sunlight and temperature in the lower region may have suppressed O3 formation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Manisha Mishra, Umesh Chandra Kulshrestha
Summary: Limited information is available about the magnitude and environmental impacts of inorganic and organic nitrogen wet deposition in India. During the monsoon period of 2017, molar concentrations of inorganic and organic nitrogen in rainwater were monitored at different land use sites in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The study found that dissolved organic nitrogen significantly contributes to total dissolved nitrogen, with varying levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations in urban and rural sites. Wet deposition fluxes of atmospheric total dissolved nitrogen were observed to be higher in urban areas due to various local sources.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Manob Das, Arijit Das, Sasanka Ghosh, Raju Sarkar, Sunil Saha
Summary: The study found that the lockdown measures in India led to a significant decrease in PM2.5 concentration in cities, confirming the related environmental improvements. Implementing effective policies is crucial for achieving environmental sustainability.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shubha Verma, Sanhita Ghosh, Olivier Boucher, Rong Wang, Laurent Menut
Summary: This study evaluates the impact of black carbon (BC) on population exposure, morbidity, and mortality in the Indo-Gangetic plain. The results show a significant population exposure to BC, with more than 60 million people living in high-concentration areas. In terms of cardiovascular disease mortality, 62% of the burden is attributable to BC exposure in the megacity and 49% in the semiurban area. By implementing emission reduction strategies, over 400,000 lives can potentially be saved from cardiovascular disease mortality annually.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pratika Chawala, R. Shanmuga Priyan, S. M. Shiva Nagendra
Summary: The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in India are highly polluted, and understanding the impact of landscape factors on air pollution is crucial for sustainable development. Satellite data analysis from 2005 to 2019 showed an overall increase in aerosol and sulfur dioxide levels, with the lower IGP experiencing the highest rate of enhancement. However, nitrogen dioxide levels decreased after 2012, except in the middle IGP.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Muhammad Bilal, Zhongfeng Qiu, Janet E. Nichol, Alaa Mhawish, Md Arfan Ali, Khaled Mohamed Khedher, Gerrit de Leeuw, Wang Yu, Pravash Tiwari, Majid Nazeer, Max P. Bleiweiss
Summary: This letter reports uncertainties in Aqua-MODIS during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The MAIAC algorithm performed better than the DT and DB algorithms. All MODIS algorithms overestimated the AOD during lockdown and showed higher positive bias.
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Md Arfan Ali, Muhammad Bilal, Yu Wang, Zhongfeng Qiu, Janet E. Nichol, Gerrit de Leeuw, Song Ke, Alaa Mhawish, Mansour Almazroui, Usman Mazhar, Birhanu Asmerom Habtemicheal, M. Nazrul Islam
Summary: Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and population growth in China have contributed significantly to air pollution. Evaluating long-term aerosol optical depth (AOD) data can enhance our understanding of spatiotemporal variations in air pollution. This study compared AOD values from different sources and found better correlations between MERRA-2 reanalysis AOD and MODIS DTB AOD than between CMIP6 AOD and MODIS DTB AOD in most regions of China. The study also observed increasing trends in AOD from 2000 to 2014, with air pollution control policies during the 12th Five Year Plan showing a greater reduction in AOD compared to the 11th Five Year Plan.
GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gemine Vivone, Alberto Arienzo, Muhammad Bilal, Andrea Garzelli, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Simone Lolli
Summary: Natural and anthropogenic aerosol emissions have a significant impact on solar radiation, air quality, cloud lifetime, and precipitation patterns. Therefore, accurately assessing aerosol variability is crucial for forecasting future scenarios and implementing mitigation strategies. This paper presents a novel aerosol optical depth retrieval algorithm for urban environments, which leverages multi-wavelength data and Kalman filters to improve estimation accuracy. The proposed method demonstrates strong agreement with ground-based measurements and outperforms the baseline approach.
Letter
Engineering, Environmental
Muhammad Bilal, Gerrit de Leeuw, Janet E. Nichol, Max P. Bleiweiss, Alaa Mhawish, Leiku Yang, Huabin Chai, Md. Arfan Ali
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mozhgan Bagherinia, Siamak Bodaghpour, Neamat Karimi, Fatemeh Ghasempour, Muhammad Bilal, Alaa Mhawish
Summary: Based on ground-based and satellite-based data, spatio-temporal analyses of air quality in Tehran during the lockdown periods in 2020 and 2021 were conducted. The study evaluated the differences in emissions of six air pollutants at different time scales. The results showed a decrease in pollution levels in 2020 compared to the baseline period, but a smaller reduction in 2021 and an increase in PM2.5 and PM10 levels. Satellite-based concentrations varied compared to the pre-lockdown year, with consistent trends in AOD during dust events in March and April.
GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Miao Zhang, Shiyong Chen, Xingang Zhang, Si Guo, Yunuo Wang, Feifei Zhao, Jinhan Chen, Pengcheng Qi, Fengxian Lu, Mingchun Chen, Muhammad Bilal
Summary: The purpose of this study is to investigate the air quality levels of Nanyang city according to Chinese air quality standards. The study analyzed the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), coarse particulate matter (PM10), and total suspended particulate (TSP) from 19 November 2021 to 19 March 2022 in Nanyang city. The results showed that the air quality in Nanyang city remains polluted in winter, with higher concentrations of PM2.5 compared to PM10 and TSP. Vehicular emissions were identified as a major cause of air pollution in the city, and there was a positive correlation between particulate matter and relative humidity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Somaya Falah, Fadi Kizel, Tirthankar Banerjee, David M. Broday
Summary: A new method is developed to predict surface PM2.5 concentrations by utilizing information on aerosol type retrieved from satellite observations. The method uses Random Forest and eXtreme Gradient Boosting models with input of widely available satellite aerosol products and surface meteorological data, resulting in improved risk assessment of PM2.5 exposure and more accurate radiative forcing calculations.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Remote Sensing
Majid Nazeer, Mohammad M. M. Alsahli, Janet Elizabeth Nichol, Jiayi Pan, Weicheng Wu, Muhammad Bilal, Urooj Saeed
Summary: The overgrowth of algae in aquatic ecosystems is a serious threat, and it has been increasing due to human activities. To protect and sustain these ecosystems, it is crucial to understand how the aquatic environment promotes algae growth through comprehensive monitoring. We propose a novel Three band Macroalgae Index (TMI) using Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) to detect and monitor algae overgrowth in aquatic ecosystems.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Miao Zhang, Si Guo, Yunuo Wang, Shiyong Chen, Jinhan Chen, Mingchun Chen, Muhammad Bilal
Summary: A ground-based dual-wavelength lidar system was used to investigate the vertical distribution of aerosol optical characteristics in Nanyang City. The results showed higher aerosol loadings and variations at different altitudes on polluted days compared to non-polluted days. The study also found that aerosol optical depth values were ten times larger on polluted days than non-polluted days.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kumari Aditi, Abhishek Singh, Tirthankar Banerjee
Summary: The retrieval accuracy and stability of two aerosol retrieval algorithms, Deep Blue (DB) and Dark Target (DT), applied on VIIRS on-board S-NPP satellite over South Asia, were evaluated. The results showed that DB efficiently retrieved fine aerosol features over bright arid surfaces and smoke/dust dominating events, while DT was better at identifying small fire events under dark vegetated surfaces. However, both algorithms showed unsatisfactory retrieval accuracy against AERONET, with a low percentage of valid retrievals and high RMSE and bias. Further refinement is required for the accuracy of both algorithms to continue the MODIS AOD legacy over South Asia.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Umesh Chandra Dumka, Panagiotis G. Kosmopoulos, Effrosyni Baxevanaki, Dimitris G. Kaskaoutis, Muhammad Nurul Huda, Md Firoz Khan, Muhammad Bilal, Balram Ambade, Sujan Khanal, Pavel Munshi
Summary: This study estimates the radiative forcing by biomass burning and dust aerosols over the Indian subcontinent, highlighting the importance of growing biomass burning for climate change and air quality in the region.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nandita Singh, Abhishek Singh, Tirthankar Banerjee, Abhishek Chakraborty, Karine Deboudt, Mahesh Mohan
Summary: This study systematically investigated the health risks of exposure to particulate-bound metals of different sizes and analyzed their sources. The results showed that resuspensions of crustal and road dust were the main sources of metals, and industrial emissions and biomass/waste burning were the major contributors to health risks. Metal-contaminated food ingestion posed non-carcinogenic risks, while inhalation of carcinogenic metals increased the risk of cancer. The health risks associated with exposure to size-segregated airborne metals were within the tolerable level but exceeded the safe level of exposure.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)