Agricultural Burning and Air Quality over Northern India: A Synergistic Analysis using NASA’s A-train Satellite Data and Ground Measurements

• DOI: 10.4209/aaqr.2017.12.0583
• Publication Date: 2018-05-03T10:14:05Z
• Authors: Hiren Jethva; Duli Chand; Omar Torres; Pawan Gupta; Alexei Lyapustin; Falguni Patadia
• Keywords: New delhi; Crop Residue

In the recent years, New Delhi, capital city of India, has ranked among most polluted cities in world regarding its air quality related to submicron Particulate Matter (PM2.5). Using NASA's A-train satellite data (MODIS, OMI, and CALIOP), ground-level PM2.5 measured Delhi (2013–2016), back-trajectory calculations, we show that over is strongly affected by agricultural fires northwestern Indian states Punjab Haryana during post-monsoon season (October November). The mass concentration escalates from ~50 µg m–3 prior onset residue burning early October as high 300 (24-hour averaged, 7-day running mean) peak period November. A linear regression analysis reveals variations can be attributed concurrent changes retrievals fire counts aerosols crop area. shows clusters (> 80%) northwesterly flow near ground intercepted region before arriving at receptor location Delhi; this further corroborates transport patterns inferred data. 15-year long record (2002–2016) an increasing trend (~617 per year) aerosol loading (0.031 0.04 year optical depth UV index) Increasing levels resulting particulate matter pollution alarming rate northern India a pressing concern demanding corrective measures substantially reduce or completely diminish through effective management system.