Sarkar Sudipta, Chauhan Akshansha, Kumar Rajesh, Singh Ramesh P
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA.
Science Systems and Applications Inc. Lanham MD USA.
Geohealth. 2019 Mar 22;3(3):67-80. doi: 10.1029/2018GH000170. eCollection 2019 Mar.
The northern part of India, adjoining the Himalaya, is considered as one of the global hot spots of pollution because of various natural and anthropogenic factors. Throughout the year, the region is affected by pollution from various sources like dust, biomass burning, industrial and vehicular pollution, and myriad other anthropogenic emissions. These sources affect the air quality and health of millions of people who live in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The dust storms that occur during the premonsoon months of March-June every year are one of the principal sources of pollution and originate from the source region of Arabian Peninsula and the Thar desert located in north-western India. In the year 2018, month of May, three back-to-back major dust storms occurred that caused massive damage, loss of human lives, and loss to property and had an impact on air quality and human health. In this paper, we combine observations from ground stations, satellites, and radiosonde networks to assess the impact of dust events in the month of May 2018, on meteorological parameters, aerosol properties, and air quality. We observed widespread changes associated with aerosol loadings, humidity, and vertical advection patterns with displacements of major trace and greenhouse gasses. We also notice drastic changes in suspended particulate matter concentrations, all of which can have significant ramifications in terms of human health and changes in weather pattern.
印度北部毗邻喜马拉雅山脉，由于各种自然和人为因素，被视为全球污染热点地区之一。一年到头，该地区受到来自灰尘、生物质燃烧、工业和车辆污染以及无数其他人为排放等各种污染源的影响。这些污染源影响着生活在印度河—恒河平原数百万人口的空气质量和健康。每年3月至6月季风来临前几个月发生的沙尘暴是主要污染源之一，其源头位于阿拉伯半岛和印度西北部的塔尔沙漠。2018年5月，连续发生了三场严重沙尘暴，造成了巨大破坏、人员伤亡、财产损失，并对空气质量和人类健康产生了影响。在本文中，我们结合地面站、卫星和无线电探空仪网络的观测数据，评估2018年5月沙尘事件对气象参数、气溶胶特性和空气质量的影响。我们观测到与气溶胶负荷、湿度和垂直平流模式相关的广泛变化，以及主要微量气体和温室气体的位移。我们还注意到悬浮颗粒物浓度的急剧变化，所有这些变化在人类健康和天气模式变化方面都可能产生重大影响。
