This study investigated the seasonal variation of ambient air quality status of Burdwan town using GIS approach. Concentration of SOR2R (sulphur dioxide), NOR2R (nitrogen dioxide) and RSPM (respiratory suspended particulate matter) were measured once a week for 24 hour in both premonsoon and postmonsoon season. The seasonal average concentration of the RSPM, SOR2R and NOR2R in premonsoon season was observed to be 188.56 ± 88.63, 5.12 ± 6.27 and 92.51 ± 64.78 mg/mP3P respectively whereas in postmonsoon it was 53.03 ± 38.27, 8.51 ± 7.11 and 162.85 ± 184.80 mg/mP3P respectively. Statistical analysis showed the significant monsoonal effect on mean difference of RSPM, SOR2R and NOR2R concentration. Postmonsoon concentration of ambient SOR2R and NOR2R were observed to be higher than premonsoon, suggesting longer residence times of these pollutants in the atmosphere due to stagnant conditions and low mixing height. Spatial distribution of pollutants throughout the town in both the season was represented by digital elevation model (DEM). On the basis of Air Quality Index (AQI) a GIS based air pollution surface models were generated in both the seasons by means of Inverse Distance Interpolation (IDINT) technique. From the output surface model it was found that in comparison to premonsoon there was a significant increase of clean and fairly clean area and decrease of moderately polluted area of the town during postmonsoon.
KeywordsAmbient Air QualitySeasonal VariationAir Quality Index (AQI)Geographic Information System (GIS)
D. W. Dockery, C. A. Pope, X. Xu, J. D. Splender, J. H. Ware, M. E. Fay, B. G. Ferris and F. E. Speizer, “An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six US cities, New England,” Journal of Medicine, Vol. 329, No. 24, 1993, pp. 1753-1759.
P. J. Koken, W. T. Piver, F. Ye, A. Elixhauser, L. M. Olsen and C. J. Portier, “Temperature, Air Pollution and Hospitalization for Cardiovascular Diseases among Elderly People in Denver,” 6TEnvironmental Health Perspectives6T, Vol. 111, No. 10, 2003, pp. 1312-1317.
A. K. Azad and T. Kitada, “Characteristics of the Air Pollution in the City of Dhaka, Bangladesh in Winter,” Atmospheric 6TEnvironment6T, Vol. 32, No. 11, 1998, pp. 1991-2005.
A. Salam, H. Bauer, K. Kassin, S. M. Ullah and H. Puxbaum, “Aerosol Chemical Characteristics of a Mega-City in southeast Asia (Dhaka, Bangladesh),” Atmospheric 6TEnvironment6T, Vol. 37, No. 18, 2003, pp. 2517-2528.
B. A. Begum, E. Kim, S. K. Biswas and P. K. Hoopke, “Investigation of Sources of Atmospheric Aerosol at Urban and Semi Urban Areas in Bangladesh,” Atmospheric 6TEnvironment6T, Vol. 38, No. 19, 2004, pp. 3025-3038.
H. Cahier, A. F. ulagnier, R. Sarda, F. Gautier, P. Masclet, J. L. Besombes, et al., “Aerosol Studies during the ESCOMPTE Experiment: An Overview,” Atmospheric Research, Vol. 74, No. 1-4, 2005, pp. 547-563.
A. K. Gupta, K. Karar, S. Ayoob and K. John, “Spatio- Temporal Characteristics of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants in an Urban Region of Kolkata, India,” Atmospheric Research, Vol. 87, No. 2, 2008, pp. 103-115.
M. K. Ghose, R. Paul and S. K. Banerjee, “Assessment of the Impacts of Vehicular Emissions on Urban Air Quality and its Management in Indian Context: The Case of Kolkata (Calcutta),” Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2004, pp. 345-351.
D. Mage, G. Ozolins, P. Peterson, A. Webster, R. Orthofer, V. Vandeweerd and M. Gwynne, “Urban Air Pollution in Mega Cities of the World,” Atmospheric 6TEnvironment6T, Vol. 30, No. 5, 1996, pp. 681-686.
A. Salam, T. Hossain and M. N. A. Siddique, “Characteristics of Atmospheric Trace Gases, Particulate Matter, and Heavy Metal Pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh,” Air Quality Atmosphere and Health, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2008, pp. 101-109.
M. Ali and M. Athar, “Air Pollution Due to Traffic, Air Quality Monitoring along Three Sections of National Highway N-5, Pakistan,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 136, No. 1-3, 2008, pp. 219-226.
P. Goyal and Sidhartha, “Present Scenario of Air Quality in Delhi: A Case Study of CNG Implementation,” Atmospheric 6TEnvironment6T, Vol. 37, No. 38, 2003, pp. 5423- 5431.
P. D. Sharma, “Ecology and Environmrnt,” 10thP PEdition, Rastogi Publishres, Meerut-New Delhi, 2007, p. 395.
A. Verma, S. N. Singh and M. K. Shukla, “Air Quality of the Trans-Gomati Area of Lucknow City, India,” Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 70, No. 1, 2003, pp. 166-173.
C. P. Kaushik, K. Ravindra, K. Yadav, S. Mehta and A. K. Haritash, “Assessment of Ambient Air Quality in Urban Centers of Haryana (India) in Relation to Different Anthropogenic Activities and Health Risks,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 122, No. 1-3, 2006, pp. 27-40.
M. Pulikesi, B. P. Skaralingam, D. Elango, V. N. Rayudu, V. Ramamurthi and S. Sivanesan, “Air Quality Monitoring in Chennai, India, in the Summer of 2005,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 136, No. 3, 2006, pp. 589- 596.
S. Lal and R. S. Patil, “Monitoring of Atmospheric Behaviour of NOX from Vehicular Traffic,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 68, No. 1, 2001, pp. 37-50.
M. K. Jain and N. C. Saxena, “Air Quality Assessment along Dhanbad-Jharia Road,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 79, No. 3, 2002, pp. 239-250.
G. S. Reddy and B. Ruj, “Ambient Air Quality Status in Raniganj-Asansol Area, India,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 89, No. 2, 2003, pp. 153-163.
S. J. Song, “A GIS Based Approach to Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urban Air Quality in Chengdu Plain,” The International Achieves of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol. 37. Part B7, Beijing, 2008.
C. H. Yeang, Jr., F. Joseph and A. Ismail, “Distributed GIS for Monitoring and Modeling Urban Air Quality,” Proceedings of the 6thP PInternational Conference in Urban Planning and Urban Management, Venice, September 1999; subsequently, in Italian, in the journal Urbanistica, October 2000, p. 114.
G. C. Mulaku and L. W. Kariuki, “Mapping and Analysis of Air Pollution in Nairobi, Kenya,” International Conference on Spatial Information for Sustainable Development, Nairobi, Kenya, 2-5 October 2001.
U. Patil, “GIS Based Air Pollution Surface Modeling,” GIS@Development, August 2003.
L. Matejicek, “Spatial Modeling of Air Pollution in Urban Areas with GIS: A Case Study on Integrated Database Development,” Advances in Geosciences, Vol. 4, 2005, pp. 63-68.
P. B. L. Murty, “Environmental Meteorology,” I.K. International Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2004, p. 152.
P. D. West and G. C. Gaeke, “Fixation of Sulphur Dioxide as Sulfitomercurate (II) and Subsequent Colorimetric Estimation,” Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 28, 1956, pp. 1816-1819.
M. B. Jacobs and S. Hochcheiser, “Continuous Sampling and Ultra Microdetermination of Nitrogen Dioxide in Air,” Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1958, pp. 426- 428.
T. N. Tiwari and M. Ali, “Air Quality Index for Calcutta and its Monthly Variation for Various Localities,” 6TIndian Journal of Environmental Protection6T, Vol. 7, No. 3, 1987, pp. 172-176.
S. S. Mudri, “Categorisation of Ambient Air Quality Index,”6T Indian Journal of Environmental Protection6T, Vol. 10, 1990, pp. 424-427.
N. Gurumani, “An Introduction to Biostatistics,” MJP Publishers, Chennai, 2005, p. 600005.
I. Valeroso and C. A. Monteverde, “Diurnal Variations of Air Pollution over Metropolitan Manila,” Atmosfera, Vol. 5, 1992, pp. 241-257.
Q. Weng and S. Yang, “Urban Air Pollution Patterns, Land Use, and Thermal Landscape: An Examination of the Linkage Using GIS,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 117, No. 1-3, 2006, pp. 463-484.