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Five-year measurements of ambient ammonia and its relationships with other trace gases at an urban site of Delhi, India

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Abstract

In this study, we present the 5-year measurements of ambient ammonia (NH3), oxides of nitrogen (NO and NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) along with the meteorological parameters at an urban site of Delhi, India from January 2011 to December 2015. The average mixing ratios of ambient NH3, NO, NO2 and CO over the entire period of observations were recorded as 19.3 ± 4.4 (ppb), 20.1 ± 5.9 (ppb), 18.6 ± 4.6 (ppb) and 1.8 ± 0.5 (ppm), respectively. The mixing ratios of NH3, NO, NO2 and CO were recorded highest during winter season, followed by summer and monsoon season. In the present case, a substantial seasonal variation of NH3 was observed during all the seasons except NO, NO2 and CO. The results emphasized that the 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 pollutants (NO x and CO). Surface wind as well as back trajectory analysis also supports the road side traffic and agricultural activities at the nearby area indicating possible major sources of ambient NH3 at observational site. Trajectory analysis, potential source contribution function and concentration weighted trajectory analysis indicated the surrounding nearby areas (NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) as a significant source region of ambient NH3 at the observational site of Delhi.

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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, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi for their encouragement support for this study. The authors also acknowledge Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi (CMM project; CSIR-EMPOWER Project: OLP-102132) and 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 for their constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Saraswati, Sharma, S.K. & Mandal, T.K. Five-year measurements of ambient ammonia and its relationships with other trace gases at an urban site of Delhi, India. Meteorol Atmos Phys 130, 241–257 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-017-0512-2

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