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| Titel |
Influence of biomass burning emissions on black carbon and ozone variability in the Southern Himalayas (NCO-P, 5079 m a.s.l.) |
| VerfasserIn |
Davide Putero, Tony Christian Landi, Paolo Cristofanelli, Angela Marinoni, Paolo Laj, Rocco Duchi, Bhupesh Adhikary, Francescopiero Calzolari, Ubaldo Bonafè, Paolo Stocchi, Elisa Vuillermoz, Paolo Bonasoni |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250074222
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Black carbon (BC) and tropospheric ozone (O3) play a key role in the climate system, since
they are short-lived climate forcers (SLCF) that contribute to climate change. BC and O3
precursors are emitted from several natural and anthropogenic sources; one of the most
important is biomass burning, i.e. the combustion of organic matter from natural or
man-made activities. Studying BC and O3 variations in connection to biomass burning is
critical, mainly because of the effects that these SLCF have on the ecosystems, agriculture
and human health. The issue appears urgent in several regions of the world, such as South
Asia, where a vast region extending from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayas is characterized
by large amounts of aerosols and pollutant gases. Here we present the variability of
BC and O3 concentrations observed at the Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid
(NCO-P, 5079 m a.s.l.), the highest WMO-GAW global station, installed in the
high Khumbu valley (Nepal, Everest region) since March 2006. Considering over 5
years of continuous measurements, the BC and O3 concentrations have shown an
average value of 48.7 ± 12.6 ppbv and 208.1 ± 364.1 ng m-3, respectively. The
possible contribution of open biomass burning to the average BC and O3 levels is
investigated, using various satellite observations, such as MODIS fire products, the USGS
Land Use Cover Characterization and TRMM rainfall measurements, linking these
products to the air-mass back-trajectories reaching the sampling site (computed using
LAGRANTO model). On 162 days (9% of the entire dataset), characterized by acute
pollution events at NCO-P, 90 days (56%) were characterized by the transport of
pollutants originated by agricultural and forest fires located in regions very close to
the Himalayan sampling site. These analyses have shown that biomass burning
emissions, especially at regional scale, are likely to play a key role in BC and O3
variations at NCO-P, particularly concerning the development of acute pollution events. |
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