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Variation of carbonaceous species and trace elements in PM10 at a mountain site in the central Himalayan region of India

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Observations of carbonaceous species [organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), carbonaceous aerosols (CAs) and secondary organic carbon (SOC) ] and trace elements (As, Cr, Ni, Zn, Na, Mg, Al, P, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Mn) in PM10 are made over a high altitude site (ARIES, Nainital, 29.4° N, 79.5° E, ~1958 m amsl) in the central Himalayan region during October 2018−February 2019 to explore their possible sources. The average concentrations of PM10, OC, EC, WSOC, CA and SOC were recorded as 44±13 µg m-3, 3.66±1.26 µg m-3, 1.29±0.61 µg m-3, 2.28±0.76 µg m-3, 7.15±1.96 µg m-3 and 1.45±0.73 µg m-3, respectively during the study period. The concentrations of PM10, OC, EC, WSOC, CAs and SOC were significantly varied during autumn (October-November) and winter (December-February) seasons. During both the seasons, significant positive linear trend between OC & EC and OC & WSOC have been observed which is indicative of their common sources of carbonaceous aerosols at the study site. WSOC/OC ratio was estimated as 0.56 and 0.67 during autumn and winter, respectively suggested that the biomass burning could be one of the major sources of carbonaceous aerosols at Nainital. The significant positive correlation of PM10 with crustal elements (Al, Fe, Ca, Mg and Ti) as well as correlation of Al with other crustal elements (Fe, Ca, Mg and Ti) indicates the abundance of mineral dust at the sampling site. The observed Fe/Al ratio (1.07) also indicates mineral dust as a source at the sampling site, similarly, Ca/Al ratio (1.36) indicates that aerosols over this region is rich in Ca mineral as compared to average continental crust. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified the contribution of crustal/soil dust, biomass burning and industrial emissions to the PM10 over the central Himalayan region of India. Five days back trajectory analysis indicates that the air mass impacting the sampling site is from local surrounding area in Uttrakhand as well from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ingo Gangetic Plain (IGP) region, Pakistan, Afghanistan region and Thar Desert.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to Director, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi; Director, ARIES, Nainital and Head, Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi for their encouragement and support. The authors also acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi for providing financial support for this study (DST/CCP/Aerosol/88/2017). Authors thankfully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for download the air mass trajectories (http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html). The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers and Editor-in-Chief for their constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Road, New Delhi, 110012, India

    S. K. Sharma, Nikki Choudhary, N. Vijayan, Garima Kotnala & T. K. Mandal

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India

    S. K. Sharma, Garima Kotnala & T. K. Mandal

  3. Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, 263002, Uttarakhand, India

    Priyanka Srivastava & Manish Naja

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  1. S. K. Sharma
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Sharma, S.K., Choudhary, N., Srivastava, P. et al. Variation of carbonaceous species and trace elements in PM10 at a mountain site in the central Himalayan region of India. J Atmos Chem 77, 49–62 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-020-09402-9

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