Effects of air pollution on meteorological parameters during
Deepawali festival over an Indian urban metropolis
Upal Saha
a, b
, Shamitaksha Talukdar
b
, Soumyajyoti Jana
b
, Animesh Maitra
a, b, *
a
Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
b
S.K. Mitra Centre for Research in Space Environment, Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road,
Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
highlights
Both long-term and short-term study reveals an increase in pollutant concentration.
PM10 has been found to be the most dominant air pollutants during this Deepawali.
Boundary layer is affected by retained change in lapse rate and low relative humidity.
Windrose diagram also validated the cause of severe urban Deepawali pollution.
Increased pollution is a serious concern on the changing pattern of environment.
article info
Article history:
Received 15 July 2014
Received in revised form
9 September 2014
Accepted 10 September 2014
Available online 16 September 2014
Keywords:
Festival
Fireworks
Air pollution
Lapse rate
Relative humidity
Visibility
abstract
Atmospheric pollutants (NO
2
, SO
2
, PM10, BC, CO, surface O
3
), emitted during fireworks display, have
significant effects on meteorological parameters like air temperature, relative humidity, lapse rate and
visibility in air over Kolkata (22
65
0
N, 88
45
0
E), a metropolitan city near the landeocean boundary, on
the eve of Deepawali festival when extensive fireworks are burnt. Long-term trend (2005e2013), in-
dicates that the yearly average concentrations of both primary and secondary air pollutants have
increased, exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) limit, on the respective
Deepawali days. Short-term study (2012e2013) during the festival shows that the average pollutant
concentrations have increased too compared to normal days. This study also reveals the immediate ef-
fects of the increased air pollutants on the boundary layer meteorology. PM10 has been found to be the
most dominant atmospheric pollutants during this period. As a result of an increase in atmospheric heat
content with elevated surface air temperature, a significant increase in the environmental lapse rate
bears a signature of the influence of pollutants on the boundary layer temperature profile. A change in
the diurnal pattern of relative humidity as well as in the vertical temperature profile is due to the change
of the lapse rate during the festival days. Thus, the atmospheric pollutants during this festival over the
urban region have significant effect on the boundary layer meteorology with bearings on environmental
hazards.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
In recent times, short-term air quality degradation episodes are
drawing increased attention of the scientific community as they
considerably affect human health through long-term adverse ef-
fects (Pope et al., 2002; Pope and Dockery, 2006; Nastos et al., 2010;
Singh et al., 2010; Samoli et al., 2011; Bapna et al., 2013; Bhuyan
et al., 2014). Burning of fireworks during festivals are significant
contributors to air pollution in India, which are of increasing
concern in terms of health hazards and effects on environment.
Fireworks during celebrations like Deepawali in India, Lass Fallas in
Spain, Lantern festival in Beijing, New year celebration belong to
same category and have been reported to be significant sources of
anthropogenic aerosols all over the world (Mandal et al., 1997;
Drewnick et al., 2006; Vecchi et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2007;
Nishanth et al., 2012; Vyas and Saraswat, 2012; Cheng et al.,
2014). Deepawali festival experiences the most extensive burning
of fireworks in India causing a major concern for environmental
* Corresponding author. Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of
Calcutta, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India.
E-mail addresses: animesh.maitra@gmail.com, am.rpe@caluniv.ac.in (A. Maitra).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Atmospheric Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.032
1352-2310/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Atmospheric Environment 98 (2014) 530e539