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Inter-annual Variation of Ambient Ammonia and Related Trace Gases in Delhi, India

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Abstract

In this study, ambient NH3, NO, NO2, CO and SO2 were measured continuously from February, 2008, to December, 2016. The annual average mixing ratios (mole/mole) of NH3, NO, NO2, CO and SO2 were 17.8 ± 3.4 ppb; 21.2 ± 2.3 ppb, 18.1 ± 3.2 ppb; 1.7 ± 0.3 ppm and 2.0 ± 0.3 ppb, respectively. All the trace gases (NH3, NO, NO2, CO and SO2) showed significant annual variation during the study. A significant increasing trend in mixing ratios of ambient NH3 and NO2 were observed at the observational site of Delhi, whereas, increasing trend were recorded in case of NO, CO and NO2 mixing ratios. The results emphasized that traffic could be one of the significant sources of ambient NH3 at the urban site of Delhi, as illustrated by positive correlations of NH3 with traffic related co-pollutants (NO and CO).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi and Head, Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division (ES&BMD), CSIR-NPL, New Delhi for their encouragement and support. We also acknowledge the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi (CSIR-CMM; CSIR-EMPOWER projects) and the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (Grant No.: SR/S4/AS:12/2008) for financial support. The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers and Editor-in-Chief for their constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Sharma, S.K., Saraswati, Mandal, T.K. et al. Inter-annual Variation of Ambient Ammonia and Related Trace Gases in Delhi, India. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 99, 281–285 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-017-2058-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-017-2058-x

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