Influence of Meteorology on Particulate Matter (PM) and Vice-Versa over Two Indian Metropolitan Cities

Abstract

This present study addresses the relationship between Particulate Matter (PM) and meteorological parameters over two metropolitan cities in India (Delhi and Pune) together with the Potential sources contribution function (PSCF) in order to understand the role of the transport on the variability of PM for a period of one year. To examine the variations of PM, over different time scales (diurnal and seasonal), at different observational locations, diurnal scales, are shown that maximum values of standard deviations (SD) are found in early hours of morning around 10AM, and later hours in the night over Delhi, however, the maximum values of SD are found in the morning hours around 8 to 10 AM over Pune. The relationship between PM and meteorological parameters is studied and explains a positive relationship between wind speed and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH), with a PM. Also, analyses on the Potential source contributions function (PSCF) over Delhi show that higher source contributions are observed during months of November, December and January over the region of Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP) plane north and Eastward of Delhi. Similarly, over Pune, most of the time, the source contribution in terms of pollution in Pune is coming from the south-east and eastern part of India, except in the winter season in the months of (December, January, and February). This analysis clearly suggests that the orography is played a pivotal role over the variations of PM over Pune.