Inter-annual variability and distribution of aerosols during winters and aerosol optical thickness over Northeastern Pak
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Inter‑annual variability and distribution of aerosols during winters and aerosol optical thickness over Northeastern Pakistan M. Z. Shahid1 · I. Shahid2,3 · M. Zahid4 Received: 13 May 2020 / Revised: 15 September 2020 / Accepted: 19 October 2020 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2020
Abstract Air pollution during winters over north-eastern (NE) Pakistan (71–74.5 E, 28–34 N) is a major challenge that affects human health, climate and daily life. In this article, distribution of aerosols and its optical properties over the NE Pakistan during winter of 2007–2015 is analyzed by applying MERRA-2 model, satellite measurements and focusing on four megacities in the NE Pakistan (Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Multan). Over the past decade, the winter mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) values were in the range of 0.5–0.8, which is attributed to anthropogenic activities due to increase in urban development and economic growth in NE Pakistan. Average over winters from 2007–2015, over the for four mega cities, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan, the concentrations of sulfate were 5.06, 14.09, 14.29, 16.22 µg m −3, BC, were 1.5, 4.69, 4.46 4.52 µg m−3 and OC, were, 5.85, 17.32, 16.99 and 17.29 µg m−3, respectively. Decrease in urban emissions and crop residue burning considered effective measures for better air quality in these population centers. Keywords Aerosols · Urban air pollution · Winter haze
Introduction Aerosols are major air pollutants that causes human health problems and climate changes. South Asia is one of the regions that need further observational and satellite-based studies to ameliorate the understanding of the role of aerosols, as fragmented ground monitoring has been conducted. NE Pakistan is most colonize and a substantial emitter of anthropogenic pollution in Pakistan, which covers massive population, including National capital, Islamabad (33.6 N, 73.0 E). Shahid et al. (2019a) quantified the PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 µm or less) concentrations in Islamabad, maximum concentration was 184 µg m −3, while minimum values were 121 µg m−3, while M. U. Alvi Editorial responsibility: Mohamed F. Yassin. * I. Shahid [email protected]; [email protected] 1
College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
2
Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
3
Environmental Science Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
4
Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
et al. (2020a, 2020b, 2019, 2018) studied the chemical composition of PM10 including saccharides, soluble ions and elemental composition. Atmospheric pollutants including sulfur in fuels are higher than the safe limits, causing high pollution levels in urban areas of the NE Pakistan. Pakistan used to have 0.5pc sulfur content, which produced 5,000 ppm until December 2016. This was switched to 0.05 ppm Euro-II having 500 ppm, and now, Pakistan is shifting to Euro-V that will have 0.001 ppm (10 ppm) (Shahid et al. 2019b,
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