Variations in black carbon aerosol, carbon monoxide and ozone over an urban area of Hyderabad, India, during the forest fire season K.V.S. Badarinath a, ⁎ , Shailesh Kumar Kharol a,b , T.R. Kiran Chand a,c , Y. Ganga Parvathi b , T. Anasuya a , A. Nirmala Jyothsna c a Forestry & Ecology Division, National Remote Sensing Agency (Dept. of Space — Govt. of India), Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037, India b Department of Environmental Sciences, JNTU, Hyderabad, India c Department of Physics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India Received 27 June 2006; received in revised form 19 October 2006; accepted 19 October 2006 Abstract Urban air quality monitoring plays an important role due to high concentration of particle sources and a large population exposed to elevated particle concentrations. Continuous ground based measurements of black carbon (BC) aerosol; carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O 3 ) were carried out in the tropical urban region of Hyderabad, India, during the forest fire season. Julian day variation of BC, CO and ozone showed high values on certain days. In order to ascertain the additional sources for observed high concentration of BC and CO, DMSP-OLS nighttime satellite data over the Indian region were processed for occurrence of forest fires. Results of the analysis suggested a higher incidence of forest fires on days with higher concentrations of BC and CO and a spatial distribution of forest fires; wind trajectories were observed to have a bearing on the higher values of BC, CO and ozone. Results are discussed in the paper. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Biomass burning; Carbon monoxide; Black carbon; Ozone; Satellite data 1. Introduction Atmospheric particles constitute one of the main factors of urban air pollution. It is recognized that par- ticles in urban air are responsible for serious health effects (Harrison and Yin, 2000; Seaton et al., 1995), i.e. long term effects like cancer and cardiovascular disease and acute effects like allergy or irritation of eyes, nose and throat. Field measurements are required to better characterize the urban particle sources and the fate of the particles in the atmosphere. Since climatic conditions and sources, such as the composition of the vehicle fleet, can be different from country to country, results cannot be transferred from location to location. Depending on their source and interactions with other components of the air, they can have different chemical compositions and health impacts. Since these pollutants are generally concentrated in and around urban areas, the outdoor urban pollution levels are far higher than in rural areas. Fires are another major source of air pollution and can lead to severe problems if the smoke is inhaled for a period of time. These fires can either be forest fires, oil well fires, burning of leaves in the backyard or as in the case of rural areas, large-scale burning of agricultural waste. Other sources include industries and power plants located in these areas. Atmospheric Research 85 (2007) 18 – 26 www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 40 23884220; fax: +91 40 23875932. E-mail address: badrinath_kvs@nrsa.gov.in (K.V.S. Badarinath). 0169-8095/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2006.10.004