Weekly periodicities of aerosol properties observed at an urban location in India

Abstract

Multi-year (~ 7 years) observations of aerosol optical and microphysical properties were conducted at a tropical urban location in Bangalore, India. As a consequence of rapid urbanization, Bangalore presents high local atmospheric emissions, which makes it an interesting site to study the effect of anthropogenic activities on aerosol properties. It has been found that both column (aerosol optical depth, AOD) and ground-level measurements (black carbon (BC) and composite aerosol mass) exhibit a weekly cycle with low aerosol concentrations on weekends. In comparison to the weekdays, the weekend reductions of aerosol optical depth, black carbon and composite aerosol mass concentrations were ~ 15%, 25% and 24%, respectively. The magnitude of weekend reduction of black carbon is as much as ~ 1 μg m⁻³. The similarity in the weekly cycle between the column and surface measurements suggests that the aerosol column loading at this location is governed by local anthropogenic emissions. The strongest weekly cycle in composite aerosol mass concentration was observed in the super micron mass range (> 1 μm). The weekly cycle of composite aerosol mass in the sub micron mass range (< 1 μm) was weak in comparison to the super micron aerosol mass.