Abstract
Bursting of firecrackers turns out to be a vital part of festivals and celebrations. The amount of air and noise pollutions caused by such celebrations has been increasing significantly for the past few years till the COVID episode. Particulate matter and toxic gases emitted as part of fire bursting pose a serious threat to human health. A variety of festivals and celebrations taking place in different parts of India pollute the rural and urban areas. Vishu is a regional New Year festival being celebrated with coordinated fireworks all over the south Indian state of Kerala. Intense fireworks usually start on the eve of Vishu from 18:00 to 22:00 h (IST) and on the day of Vishu from 04:00 to 07:00 h in two spells, which create smoke and dust in the atmosphere that leads to deterioration of air quality. Here, we describe the variations of surface ozone (O3) and other trace pollutants for pre-, post- and Vishu days for two successive years (2020 and 2021) at Kannur town. No significant variations in air pollutants were observed on the Vishu days in 2020 due to countrywide lockdown to curb the transmission of COVID in India. But higher levels of trace pollutants were found during the intense fireworks during the two spells in the night of Vishu eve and early morning of Vishu day in 2021. Surface O3 was found to be increased by 51% during the evening spell of fireworks on the eve of Vishu day and 61% on early morning spell on the Vishu day. A sharp increase in NO, NO2, CO, SO2, BTEX and NH3, PM10 and PM2.5 concentration was observed during the evening spell of fireworks on the eve of Vishu day and early morning spell on the Vishu day when compared to the respective time in the pre-Vishu days. Metal concentrations associated with particulate matter were found to be higher during Vishu days than pre- and post-Vishu days. The average concentrations of metals are shown in the order S > Al > Cl > Ca > K > Zn > Na > Mg > Pb > Cu > Ba > Cr > Fe > Ni > Sr > Mn. This shows that air pollution due to trace gases and particulate matter increases exponentially on fireworks days, unlike normal days. Such short duration activities carried out for visual and auditory pleasure have far-reaching effects. Therefore, it is evident that fireworks associated with celebrations and festivals are an event that can influence air quality to a large extent. In a densely populated area like Kerala, it is necessary to assess the consequences of such celebrations using fireworks and come up with a protocol for its use. Further, this work throws light on the absence of air pollution during the festival ban in 2020 in connection with a severe lockdown to curb COVID-19 transmission.
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Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bangalore, for the financial support provided through the Atmospheric Chemistry, Transport, and Modeling (AT-CTM) project of the Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Likewise, the authors express their gratitude to the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) for granting financial support for the study of air pollutants over the Kannur region. Resmi expresses her gratitude to Dr. R. Sankarasubramanian (Principal) and Dr. D. Manivannan (HOD of Physics) of Erode Arts and Science College, Tamil Nadu, for providing the necessary facilities and constant support. Prof. Valsaraj appreciates the endowment funds support from the Charles and Hilda Roddey Distinguished Professorship at LSU.
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Resmi, C.T., Nishanth, T., Satheesh Kumar, M.K., Valsaraj, K.T., Balachandramohan, M. (2022). Assessment of Extreme Firework Episode in a Coastal City of Southern India: Kannur as a Case Study. In: Saxena, P., Shukla, A., Gupta, A.K. (eds) Extremes in Atmospheric Processes and Phenomenon: Assessment, Impacts and Mitigation . Disaster Resilience and Green Growth. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7727-4_11
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