15:00 〜 15:15
[HCG26-05] Unravelling the link between air pollution in Delhi and Rice Crop Residue Burning in Punjab and Haryana during 2022 and 2023 field campaign
キーワード:Crop Residue Burning, Kharif Rice, PM2.5, Northwest India, Environmental Issue
Crop residue burning (CRB) is a major environmental issue that frequently makes headlines during harvest season owing to severe air pollution. The harvesting season for kharif rice (October to November) in northwest India coincides with the shift in weather patterns. The CRB, particularly those associated with kharif rice paddy in Punjab and Haryana, is believed to play a significant role in worsening air pollution in the Delhi national capital region (NCR). Due to a lack of simultaneous high-density network observations including the both source and receptor regions, the association between growing particulate matter of PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR and CRB in Punjab and Haryana is debated and hinders effective policymaking to mitigate air pollution in the Delhi-NCR. We established a network of 30 Compact & Useful PM2.5 Instrument with Gas sensors (CUPI-Gs) during extensive field campaigns covering Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi-NCR from September to November of 2022 and 2023. The continuous observations conducted in 2022–2023, recorded a considerable drop in fire detection counts (FDCs) of 31-37% in Punjab and Haryana regions. In contrast, a rise in PM2.5 levels of around 20% was observed over the Delhi-NCR region. Variabilities in concentrations of PM2.5 and carbon monoxide (CO) in the Delhi-NCR were also found to be independent of those in Punjab and Haryana. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) for 24-hour-backward at three different heights indicated a distinct PM2.5 plume over Delhi-NCR, likely due to the prevalence of low-wind conditions (<1 m s-1) in 2023 as compared to the year 2022 (>2 m s-1). Based on sensitivity simulations of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ), we detected a rise in PM2.5 at surface locations in Punjab and Haryana for eight times high CRB emissions, but no significant change in PM2.5 levels in Delhi-NCR. In this study, we decipher the links and persistency between ground conditions (fire counts, meteorology, etc.) and PM2.5 abundances. Some of this information is provided through our website in near real-time: https://aakash-rihn.org/en/campaign2023/.