Hotspot driven air pollution during crop residue burning season in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, India

Ummed Singh Saharan; Rajesh Kumar; Siddhartha Singh; Tuhin Kumar Mandal; M Sateesh; Shubha Verma; Akhil Srivastava

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124013

Hotspot driven air pollution during crop residue burning season in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, India

Environ Pollut. 2024 Apr 24:350:124013. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124013. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ummed Singh Saharan¹, Rajesh Kumar², Siddhartha Singh³, Tuhin Kumar Mandal⁴, M Sateesh⁵, Shubha Verma⁶, Akhil Srivastava³

Affiliations

¹ CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi, 110012, India; Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201 002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA.
³ India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, 110 003, India.
⁴ CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi, 110012, India; Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201 002, Uttar Pradesh, India. Electronic address: tuhin@nplindia.org.
⁵ Climate Change Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India.

PMID: 38670421
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124013

Abstract

Intensive crop residue burning (CRB) in northern India triggers severe air pollution episodes over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) each year during October and November. We have quantified the contribution of hotspot districts (HSDs) and total CRB to poor air quality over the IGP. Initially, we investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of CRB fire within the domain and pinpointed five HSD in each Punjab and Haryana. Furthermore, we have simulated air quality and quantified the impact of CRB using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), incorporating recent anthropogenic emissions (EDGAR v5) and biomass burning emissions (FINN v2.4) inventories, along with MOZART-MOSAIC chemistry. The key finding is that HSDs contributed ∼80% and ∼50% of the total fire counts in Haryana and Punjab, respectively. The model effectively captured observed PM₂.₅ concentrations, with a normalized mean bias (NMB) below 0.2 and R-squared (R²) exceeding 0.65 at the majority of validation sites. However, some discrepancies were observed at a few sites in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and West Bengal. The National Capital Region experienced the highest PM₂.₅ concentrations, followed by Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. Moreover, HSDs were responsible for about 70% of the total increase in CRB-induced PM₂.₅ in the western, central, and eastern cities, and around 50% in the northern cities. By eliminating CRB emissions across the domain, we could potentially save approximately 18,000 lives annually. Policymakers, scientists, and institutions can leverage the framework to address air pollution at national and global scales by targeting source-specific hotspots. This approach, coupled with appropriate technological and financial solutions, can contribute to achieving climate change and sustainable development goals.

Keywords: Crop residue burning; EDGARv5; FINNv2.4; Graphical abstract; Hotspots; Indo gangetic plain; MOZART-MOSAIC; WRF-Chem.