Influence of forest fire episodes on the distribution of gaseous air pollutants over Uttarakhand,India

ABSTRACT

Widespread forest fire events occurred in the foothills of North Western Himalaya during 24 April to 2 May 2016 (Event-1) and 20–30 May 2018 (Event-2). Their impacts were investigated on the distribution of pollutant gases ozone (O₃), carbon monoxide (CO), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) over Uttarakhand using simulations of Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) and in-situ observations of these gases over Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. During Event-1, the observed CO mixing ratio over Dehradun increased from 25 April 2016 onwards, attained maximum (705.8 ± 258 ppbv) on 2 May 2016 and subsequently decreased. The rate of increase of daily baseline CO was 29 ppbv/day during HFAP (High Fire Activity Period). During Event-2, daily average concentrations of CO, O₃, and NOx showed systematic increase over Dehradun during HFAP period. The rate of increase of CO was 9 ppbv/day, while it was very small for NOx and O₃. To quantitatively estimate the influence of forest fire emissions, two WRF-Chem simulations were made: one with biomass burning (BB) emissions and other without BB emissions. These simulations showed 52% (34%) enhancement in CO, 52% (32%) enhancement in NOx, and 11% (9%) enhancement in O₃ during HFAP for Event-1 (Event-2). A clear positive correlation (r = 0.89 for Event-1, r = 0.69 for Event-2) was found between ?O₃ (O_{3with BB} minus O_{3without BB}) and ?CO (CO_{with BB} minus CO_{without BB}), indicating rapid production of ozone in the fire plumes. For both the events, the vertical distribution of ?O₃, ?CO, and ?NOx showed that forest fire emissions influenced the air quality upto 6.5 km altitude. Peaks in ?O₃, ?CO, and ?NOx during different days suggested the role of varying dispersion and horizontal mixing of fire plumes.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of Cationic Surfactants Based on Their Effect on the Complexes of Chrome Azurol S with Be2+ and Al3+ Cations

Simple, rapid, and sensitive spectrophotometric methods have been proposed for the determination of cationic surfactants (CS) as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), dodecyltrimethylammonium (DTAB), and cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB). The methods are based on the effects of CSs on the complexes of Al³⁺ and Be²⁺ with Chrome Azurol S (CAS). The optimum reaction conditions such as CAS concentration, metal ion concentration, and pH have been studied and found to be 2.0 × 10^?4 mol L^?1 CAS, 0.5 mg L^?1 Al³⁺ or 0.4 mg L^?1 Be²⁺ and pH 5.4. The analytical characteristics of the methods such as limit of detections, limit of quantifications, and linear ranges have been obtained. CTAB, CPB, and DTAB could be determined by the Al–CAS complex in the ranges of 0.50–40.00, 0.20–10.00, and 0.40–10.00 µmol L^?1, and for the Be–CAS complex in the ranges of 0.08–5.00, 0.08–3.00, and 0.20–6.00 µmol L^?1, respectively. The limit of the detections of the method for the determination of CTAB, CPB, and DTAB for the Be–CAS complex has been found as 0.025, 0.024, and 0.061 µmol L^?1, respectively. The interfering effect of some anions and cations was also tested. The method was applied to the determination of CS CTAB in conditioner shampoo and water samples.     

High-resolution satellite image segmentation using Hölder exponents

Texture in high-resolution satellite images requires substantial amendment in the conventional segmentation algorithms. A measure is proposed to compute the Hölder exponent (HE) to assess the roughness or smoothness around each pixel of the image. The localized singularity information is incorporated in computing the HE. An optimum window size is evaluated so that HE reacts to localized singularity. A two-step iterative procedure for clustering the transformed HE image is adapted to identify the range of HE, densely occupied in the kernel and to partition Hölder exponents into a cluster that matches with the range. Hölder exponent values (noise or not associated with the other cluster) are clubbed to a nearest possible cluster using the local maximum likelihood analysis.     

Eddy diffusion in the upper atmosphere by global deposition of meteoroids

A theory for the production of eddy diffusion in the upper atmosphere by the global deposition of meteoroids is presented. It is based on the assumption that meteoroids falling on the Earth carry, on the average, a greater amount of orbital angular momentum per unit mass than that corresponding to the Earth's orbit. This excess of orbital angular momentum of the meteoroids is deposited in some or the other form during their interaction with the Earth's atmosphere. The softer material deposits the excess of its orbital angular momentum in a region slightly higher than the harder material and is held responsible for the superrotation observed in the atmosphere. It is shown that the other population of meteoroids which is metallic in nature deposits the excess orbital angular momentum below 100 km altitude and produces eddies. The size and velocity of the eddies so formed give the value of the vertical eddy diffusion coefficient in agreement with the upper limit set by Johnson and Wilkins (1965) from the study of downward heat transport in the atmosphere.     

PGE geochemistry of low-Ti high-Mg siliceous mafic rocks within the Archaean Central Indian Bastar Craton: implications for magma fractionation

Boninite-norite (BN) suites emplaced in an intracratonic setting in Archaean Cratons, are reported from many parts of the world. Such high-Mg low-Ti siliceous rocks are emplaced during Neoarchaean-Paleoproterozoic. The Archaean central Indian Bastar Craton also contains such a boninite-norite suite, which occurs in the form of dykes and volcanics. The spatial and temporal correlation of these high-Mg low-Ti siliceous rocks with similar rocks occurring around the northern Bastar and Dharwar Cratons probably represent a Bastar-Dharwar Large Igneous Province during the Neoarchaean-Paleoproterozoic. Platinum group element (PGE) abundances in these rocks provide constraints on their geochemical evolution during the Neoarchaean-Paleoproterozoic. The PGE geochemistry of the boninite-norite suite from the southern part of the central Indian Bastar Craton is presented to understand their behaviour during magma fractionation. In primitive mantle-normalized plots all samples have similar PGE fractionated patterns that are enriched in Pd, Pt and Rh relative to Ru. The Pd/Ru ratios for eight samples range from 2.0 to 7.0 which is higher than primitive mantle (primitive mantle Pd/Ru ≈1.2). The Pd/Pt ratios range between 0.2–2.5 with an average value of 0.7 which is near chondritic (primitive mantle Pd/Pt ≈0.5). PGE variations in these rocks together with those of major and other trace elements are consistent with a model involving olivine fractionation along with chromite as a cotectic phase. The Pt fractionation from Pd and Rh is controlled by both olivine and chromite crystallization at an early stage during high temperature crystal fractionation when the Pt was strongly compatible and Pd and Rh were incompatible. Strong negative correlations of the S content with iron and TiO₂ plus lithophile element contents of the rock suggest a decrease of the S solubility in the parental high-Mg magma and separation of an immiscible sulfide liquid with decreasing temperature. Palladium plus other available chalcophile elements (e.g., Re, Au, Ag) have been fractionated in this immiscible sulfide liquid after considerable olivine fractionation of the magma.     

Mixed boundary value problem in an elastic quarter-space

Summary The stress and displacement throughout a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic quarterspace have been evaluated when the stress is prescribed on one of the plane boundaries and the displacement on the other. The variations of the displacement and stress on the boundaries with time and distance from the origin have been shown graphically.     

Drought analysis in the Tons River Basin,India during 1969-2008

The primary focus of this study is the analysis of droughts in the Tons River Basin during the period 1969–2008. Precipitation data observed at four gauging stations are used to identify drought over the study area. The event of drought is derived from the standardized precipitation index (SPI) on a 3-month scale. Our results indicated that severe drought occurred in the Allahabad, Rewa, and Satna stations in the years 1973 and 1979. The droughts in this region had occurred mainly due to erratic behavior in monsoons, especially due to long breaks between monsoons. During the drought years, the deficiency of the annual rainfall in the analysis of annual rainfall departure had varied from ?26% in 1976 to ?60% in 1973 at Allahabad station in the basin. The maximum deficiency of annual and seasonal rainfall recorded in the basin is 60%. The maximum seasonal rainfall departure observed in the basin is in the order of ?60% at Allahabad station in 1973, while maximum annual rainfall departure had been recorded as ?60% during 1979 at the Satna station. Extreme dry events (z score <?2) were detected during July, August, and September. Moreover, severe dry events were observed in August, September, and October. The drought conditions in the Tons River Basin are dominantly driven by total rainfall throughout the period between June and November.     

On the scavenging of SO2 by cloud and raindrops: II. An experimental study of SO2 absorption and desorption for water drops in air

For the purpose of testing our previously described theory of SO₂ scavenging a laboratory investigation was carried out in the UCLA 33 m long rainshaft. Drops with radii between 250 and 2500 m were allowed to come to terminal velocity, after which they passed through a chamber of variable length filled with various SO₂ concentrations in air. After falling through a gas separating chamber consisting of a fluorocarbon gas the drops were collected and analyzed for their total S content in order to determine the rate of SO ₂ absorption.The SO₂ concentration in air studied ranged between 1 and 60% (v). Such relatively large concentrations were necessary due to the short times the drops were exposed to SO₂ in the present setup. The present experimental results were therefore not used to simulate atmospheric conditions but rather to test our previously derived theory which is applicable to any laboratory or atmospheric condition. Comparison of our studies with the results from our theory applied to our laboratory conditions led to predicted values for the S concentration in the drops which agreed well with those observed if the drops had radii smaller than 500 m. In order to obtain agreement between predicted and observed S concentrations in larger drops, an empirically derived eddy diffusivity for SO₂ in water had to be included in the theory to take into account the effect of turbulent mixing inside such large drops.In a subsequent set of experiments, drops initially saturated with S (IV) were allowed to fall through S-free air to determine the rate of SO ₂ desorption. The results of these studies also agreed well with the results of our theoretical model, thus justifying the reversibility assumption made in our theoretical models.In a final set of experiments, the effects of oxidation on SO₂ absorption was studied by means of drops containing various amounts of H₂O₂. For comparable exposure times to SO₂, the S concentration in drops with H₂O₂ was found to be up to 10 times higher than the concentration in drops in which no oxidation occurred.