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Evaluation of ambient air quality in Dehradun city during 2011–2014

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Abstract

The variations in the ambient concentrations of particulate matter (SPM and \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\)) and gaseous pollutants (\(\hbox {SO}_{2}\) and \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\)) at Clock tower (CT), Rajpur road (RR) and Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) station in Dehradun city, Uttarakhand, India are analysed for the period of 2011–2014. Mean concentrations are observed to be higher during pre-monsoon season as compared to the winter and monsoon. \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) and SPM concentrations with maximum values of \(203\pm 23\) and \(429\pm 49\,\upmu \hbox {g m}^{-3}\), respectively, during winter, are found to exceed the national standards by factors of 2 and 3. Winter-time elevated pollution in Dehradun is attributed to the lower ventilation coefficient (derived from Era interim model fields) and minimal precipitation. Nevertheless, the \(\hbox {SO}_{2}\) and \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\) levels are observed to be within the criteria notified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India. Correlation analysis shows profound impacts of the meteorology and local dynamics on the observed variations in observed trace species. Additionally, the stronger inter-species correlation variations (\(r=0.79\) for \(\hbox {SO}_{2}\) with \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\), and \(r=0.89\) for \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) with SPM), which may suggest their origin from common sources. Analysis of ‘Air Quality Index (AQI)’ variations indicates unhealthy atmospheric conditions near the major city centers and bus station. More observations in the region are highly desirable to understand the dispersion of the enhanced pollution in the Dehradun valley.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dehradun Branches of Central Pollution Control Board and IMD for providing observation data used in this paper. One of the authors, AD is thankful to University Grants Commission (UGC) (Registration no.-14150), New Delhi, for the financial assistance under Campus Fellowship program for PhD. One of the authors NO acknowledges support and fruitful discussions with H N Nagaraja and L M S Palni at Graphic Era, Dehradun. The authors would also like to thank ECMWF, Shinfield Park, Reading, UK for producing ERA-Interim dataset, NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for the provision of HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center for providing the MODIS fire count data. The authors are highly grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped substantially to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, H N B Garhwal University, Srinagar, Garhwal, 246 174, India

    Amar Deep & K D Purohit

  2. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    Chhavi P Pandey

  3. Department of Physics, Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, 249 404, India

    Hemwati Nandan

  4. Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Manora Peak, Nainital, 263 129, India

    Narendra Singh & Jaydeep Singh

  5. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Prof Ramnath Vij Marg, New Delhi, 110 060, India

    A K Srivastava

  6. Department of Physics, Graphic Era University, Dehradun, 248 002, India

    Narendra Ojha

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  1. Amar Deep
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  2. Chhavi P Pandey
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Correspondence to Chhavi P Pandey.

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Corresponding editor: Suresh Babu

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Deep, A., Pandey, C.P., Nandan, H. et al. Evaluation of ambient air quality in Dehradun city during 2011–2014. J Earth Syst Sci 128, 96 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1092-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1092-y

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