Faculty Publications
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Item Seasonal and Lockdown Effects on Air Quality in Metro Cities in India(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Krishna Raj, K.; Shrihari, S.Air pollution is one of the worst avoidable threats in developing nations across the world. India has undergone a substantial number of infrastructure changes during recent years due to the ever-increasing population. This and the consequent industrialization, the air quality of Indian cities became worsened. The changes in climatic conditions across various cities in India also contribute to air pollution. To control the air pollution within the acceptable limit several control measures have been imposed in India, despite these efforts the air pollution level has not decreased considerably. In India, the first COVID-19 case has reported on 30th January 2020 in the state of Kerala. To control the quick spread of COVID-19 in India, the central government executed a three-week nationwide lockdown from 24th March 2020, and further, it has extended into several phases. It was the first time in India a long-term shutting down of all the sectors happening and which resulted in positively on the environment. This study is dealing with the lockdown effect on air quality in metro cities in India and is compared with the pre-existing conditions. Also, the seasonal variations in air quality in the course of the past two years are compared. The data of pollutants PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, CO, and NH3 from metro cities were collected and by adopting the National Air Quality Index to depict the variations in overall air quality. During the lockdown period, most of the cities experience a considerable improvement in overall air quality and PM10, NO2, PM2.5, and CO concentrations. Whereas, the Ozone shows some increasing trend in a few cities might be due to the increment in the temperature caused by the exposure of sun during the summer season. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item Air quality assessment of Dhanbad District, India - A case study(2010) Anantharamu, A.; Singh, G.; Venkat Reddy, D.Ambient air pollution status in Dhanbad district is studied and presented in this article. The selection of Dhanbad is made considering its importance and the nature of activities taking place around the district. For the assessment of ambient air quality in Dhanbad, the following five locations were chosen: Main Gate of Indian School of Mines(ISM), Dhanbad: It is a site representing purely commercial activities and road traffic. Bankmore: It is one of the busiest marketing centres of the district and is surrounded by residential areas. All the vehicles going to Bokaro pass by this place and thus the traffic density is pretty high. Kusunda: It is a place 10.9 kilometres from Dhanbad Railway Station. It is just beside one of the coal mines, hence, all vehicles going to the mine passes through this place. Steel Gate: It consists of a small market. Trucks and other heavy vehicle are more frequent during night as this road connects to a highway. ISM Admin Block: It can be considered as a sensitive area since it is a very calm place where the usage of vehicles is minimum throughout the day. Monitoring of ambient air quality is done following the standard procedure prescribed in IS: 5182. In addition, the concentration of lead, zinc, cadmium, copper, manganese and iron metals in SPM is also monitored. The ambient air quality assessment was done in the month of June, 2009. The concentration of SPM was higher than the permissible limit in three locations namely ISM Main Gate, Bankmore and Steel Gate, while it was less than the permissible limit in other two locations, ISM Admin Block and Kusunda. Since the generation of SPM was mainly due to vehicular traffic it was expected to cross the limit in the above mentioned three locations as density of vehicular movement is very high. © 2010 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.Item A comprehensive assessment of increased iron ore production on the environment - A case study(2011) Thimmaiah, S.A.; Rao, Y.; Murthy, C.H.S.N.There has been a significant increase in iron ore production in the Bellary- Hospet-Sandur sector of Karnataka, India due to sudden increase in the demand of iron ore from other countries as well as by local steel plants set up in the region. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the effect of increase in the iron ore production on various environmental parameters like air, water, soil and noise. For this purpose a study area of 10 Km radius was taken and the various environmental parameters were monitored before and after increase in iron ore production in the region. Study shows that there is no significant change in the air quality in terms of SPM, RPM, SO2 and NOx in the region. In many locations, there is decrease in the concentrations of these parameters. This is mainly due to improvement of roads by asphalting, effective covering of iron ore trucks by tarpaulin, awareness among mine owners about the protection of environment by following various pollution control measures, dust suppression measures on the public road using water sprinklers and stringent monitoring of the environmental protective measures by various regulatory authorities. The concentration of SO2 and NOx was found to increase due to increase in traffic by movement of tippers in the public/village road. The deployment of heavy earth moving machinery at mine site also contributed for increase of SO2 and NOx. The surface water quality parameters were found to be within the acceptable limits in the study area. There is no possibility of disturbing/altering ground water table due to mining operations as the mining is being carried out on hill top which is above the general ground level. In agricultural soil, except that of potassium and electrical conductivity, variations in other parameters are insignificant as the agricultural lands are located 2 to 3 Kms away from the active mining area. Increase in noise level is found at most of the locations of the study area. Therefore, serious attempts should be made by mine owners as well as statutory bodies to reduce the sound level at various locations for increasing the quality of life in these locations in terms of sound level. © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA technical society. All right reserved.Item An economic analysis of environmental pollution and health - a case study of Bellary-Hospet sector(2012) Thimmaiah, S.A.; Ravi, D.R.; Rao, Y.V.; Murthy, C.S.N.The Earth's natural ecosystem is the basis for our life-supporting system and provides marketable goods to human and other living organisms. The natural environment has always been exploited to fulfill human needs. The green revolution and industrial revolution has caused serious threat to sustainable development for both developed and developing countries. The degradation of air, water and land has directly affected the livelihood and human health. The environmental damage increases, as the economic activity increases, in view of the fact that the association between economy and the environment are multiple, complex and important. Mining is one such activity, which significantly results in the degradation of the environment, apart from generating huge economy to the country. Hence, the identification and quantification of socio economic impact of environmental pollution caused due to increased mining activity is necessary in the broader economic analysis. The present study is envisaged with the objective to identify and evaluate the impacts of mining activity on Social, Economical and Environmental Aspects of the area and to measure its economic burden on the affected people. The ambient air quality in the selected stations of study area reveals that, the increase in iron ore production has significantly resulted in the deterioration of air quality. High particulate matter to an extent of 310 ?g/nm3 in case of SPM concentration and 160 ?g/nm3 in case of RSPM. The health data collected from the respondents have revealed, significantly more number of respondents who are suffering from dust allergy, skin allergy in the study area, where there are mines and are working as workers in those mines, contributing for higher health cost incurred through treatment. © 2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.Item Source apportionment of PM2.5 particles: Influence of outdoor particles on indoor environment of schools using chemical mass balance(AAGR Aerosol and Air Quality Research hhyang@cyut.edu.tw, 2017) Kalaiarasan, G.; Mohan Balakrishnan, R.M.; Sethunath, N.A.; Manoharan, S.Children have higher lung function than adults and they spend most of their day time in schools. Also, children studying at schools located in the vicinity of busy roadways are vulnerable to childhood asthma and respiratory disorders. The present study is focused on estimating the sources of PM2.5 particles present in the indoor air quality in schools which are located adjacent to urban and suburban roadways. The indoor PM2.5 samples from all the four schools were collected using fine dust sampler from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sampling was carried out for one complete week during various seasons including both working and non-working days. The chemical compositions of the PM2.5 samples were analyzed for certain elements like Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Ti, V and Zn using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) and ions like F-, Cl-, NO3-, PO43-, SO42-, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+, Na+ using Ion Chromatography (IC). Source apportionment study using Chemical Mass Balance was carried out using the species concentration of the collected samples. The major sources were found to be Paved Road Dust, Soil Dust, Gasoline Vehicle Emissions, Diesel Vehicle Emissions and Marine Source Emissions. Among these, vehicular emissions contribution was found to be higher for the schools located close to roadways rather than the school located at a considerable distance from highway. The difference in source type contribution at each school clearly depicts the difference in nature of location and type of activities in the vicinity of the sampling sites. © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research.Item Source apportionment studies on particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in ambient air of urban Mangalore, India(Academic Press, 2018) Kalaiarasan, G.; Mohan Balakrishnan, R.M.; Sethunath, N.A.; Manoharan, S.Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) samples were collected from six sites in urban Mangalore and the mass concentrations for PM10 and PM2.5 were measured using gravimetric technique. The measurements were found to exceed the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) limits, with the highest concentration of 231.5 ?g/m3 for PM10 particles at Town hall and 120.3 ?g/m3 for PM2.5 particles at KMC Attavar. The elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer (ICPOES) revealed twelve different elements (As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sr and Zn) for PM10 particles and nine different elements (Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr and Zn) for PM2.5 particles. Similarly, ionic composition of these samples measured by ion chromatography (IC) divulged nine different ions (F?, Cl?, NO3 ?, PO4 3?, SO4 2?, Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+) for PM10 particles and ten different ions (F?, Cl?, NO3 ?, PO4 3?, SO4 2?, Na+, NH4 +, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+) for PM2.5 particles. The source apportionment study of PM10 and PM2.5 for urban Mangalore in accordance with these six sample sites using chemical mass balance model (CMBv8.2) revealed nine and twelve predominant contributors for both PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. The highest contributor of PM10 was found to be paved road dust followed by diesel and gasoline vehicle emissions. Correspondingly, PM2.5 was found to be contributed mainly from two-wheeler vehicle emissions followed by four-wheeler and heavy vehicle emissions (diesel vehicles). The current study depicts that the PM10 and PM2.5 in ambient air of Mangalore region has 70% of its contribution from vehicular emissions (both exhaust and non-exhaust). © 2018 Elsevier LtdItem Satellite-based top-down Lagrangian approach to quantify aerosol emissions over California(John Wiley and Sons Ltd vgorayska@wiley.com Southern Gate Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, 2020) Nizar, S.; Dodamani, B.M.Accurate forecasting of air quality demands better estimates of aerosol emissions. The accuracy of conventional bottom-up approaches to estimate aerosol emissions depends on the degree to which various influencing parameters are estimated. The availability of satellite observations not only enhances the capability of determining various influencing parameters, but also provides alternate ways of assessing aerosol sources. The present study employs a Lagrangian approach to the Advection Diffusion Equation (ADE) to estimate the transported aerosols and hence the Aerosol Source Strength (ASS) using satellite-measured Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and reanalysis wind data. This top-down approach is based on the advection and diffusion of atmospheric aerosols considering wind circulation and atmospheric conditions rather than using indicative parameters. ASS was computed every 3 hr at a 0.25°×0.25° grid across California during July 2018. For the computation, AOD retrievals were obtained from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 with observations every 15 min. The data were resampled to the grid every 3 hr, and backward trajectories were run at every gridpoint to ascertain the initial aerosol concentration for the ADE. The final aerosol concentrations obtained from the ADE model were then compared with the observed AOD to obtain the ASS during that time period. The results are indicative of higher ASS around wildfire locations. The ASS values also show good correlation (R2=0.886) with Fire Radiative Power (FRP) obtained from Terra MODIS fire product. The method was further applied to investigate the spatial correlation of ASS with power plant density, which reveals a steady increase in ASS with power plant density (R2=0.82). © 2020 Royal Meteorological SocietyItem Particulate matter (PM10) enhances RNA virus infection through modulation of innate immune responses(Elsevier Ltd, 2020) Mishra, R.; Krishnamoorthy, P.; Gangamma, S.; Raut, A.A.; Kumar, H.Particulate matter (PM10) enhances severity of influenza virus infection through skewing innate immunity via modulation of metabolic pathways-related genes.; Sensing of pathogens by specialized receptors is the hallmark of the innate immunity. Innate immune response also mounts a defense response against various allergens and pollutants including particulate matter present in the atmosphere. Air pollution has been included as the top threat to global health declared by WHO which aims to cover more than three billion people against health emergencies from 2019 to 2023. Particulate matter (PM), one of the major components of air pollution, is a significant risk factor for many human diseases and its adverse effects include morbidity and premature deaths throughout the world. Several clinical and epidemiological studies have identified a key link between the PM existence and the prevalence of respiratory and inflammatory disorders. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. Here, we investigated the influence of air pollutant, PM10 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 ?m) during RNA virus infections using Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) – H5N1 virus. We thus characterized the transcriptomic profile of lung epithelial cell line, A549 treated with PM10 prior to H5N1infection, which is known to cause severe lung damage and respiratory disease. We found that PM10 enhances vulnerability (by cellular damage) and regulates virus infectivity to enhance overall pathogenic burden in the lung cells. Additionally, the transcriptomic profile highlights the connection of host factors related to various metabolic pathways and immune responses which were dysregulated during virus infection. Collectively, our findings suggest a strong link between the prevalence of respiratory illness and its association with the air quality. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd; © 2020 Elsevier LtdItem 'RS' and 'GIS' based air quality atlas with integrated land use and land cover change analysis in India(ICE Publishing, 2021) Navalgund, N.; Joshi, K.; Srinikethan, S.; Shet, V.B.; Hosamane, S.N.In this paper, the effect of land use and land cover and the impact of urbanisation on respirable particulate matter (RSPM), sulfur oxide (SO x ) and nitrogen oxide (NO x ) of the Hubli-Dharwad, a Tier II city in India, are correlated based on the trends in air quality observed from 2006 to 2013, population from 1990 to 2010, the number of vehicles between the periods of 2004 and 2013 and urbanisation between the periods of 1975 and 2009. It has been found that urbanisation has increased threefold from 92 km2 in 1975 to 271 km2 in 2009 and the corresponding decrease in agricultural area was from 368.22 to 123.43 km2. The RSPM in the study region is increasing at a rate of 8.9% per year. The study shows that vehicular pollutants are the major cause of air pollution, followed by industries, with the highest RSPM value of 128 ?g/m3 at traffic junctions in the Hubli-Dharwad region in 2013. Based on the trend analysis, the air quality atlas predicted for 2030 shows that the RSPM level in the air will reach 150 ?g/m3, well above the national ambient air quality standards, and will have serious consequences on human health if proper strategies are not undertaken. Owing to the unique geographical setting of Hubli-Dharwad, its future urbanisation will be in a narrow area, which may lead to a severe air pollution problem that needs immediate attention to provide a safe environment. © 2021 ICE Publishing: All rights reserved.Item Rapid Air Quality Assessment and Modelling of an Educational Institute Located in a Coastal Region near National Highway(Springer, 2025) Charly, T.; Joshi, L.; Manu, B.; Mulangi, R.H.The study investigated the variation in air pollutant concentrations at different sampling points within a higher educational institution located near a coastal region and a national highway in India. From January 2023 to March 2023, air pollutants including Total Suspended Particulate Matter (TSPM), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) were sampled and analyzed using standard procedures at three distinct locations: the Main Entrance Gate (S1), Administrative Building (S2), and Sports Complex (S3) of the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NITK). A simple box model was employed to estimate the potential impact of emissions on atmospheric concentration. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to explore relationships between air pollutants and meteorological parameters. The study revealed higher concentrations of gaseous pollutants and TSPM during the winter season, with the highest levels observed at the main entrance facing National Highway 66. Various factors such as meteorological variations, construction activities, local traffic conditions, and fuel consumption were identified as potential contributors to pollutant concentration fluctuations. Car, jeep, van, and motor vehicle traffic predominated, comprising 89.96% of the observed vehicles. Notably, a significant correlation was found between NO2 levels and temperature at the sampling sites. The investigation underscores the environmental challenges faced by educational institutions, highlighting the imperative for sustainable practices and pollution control measures within campus boundaries. This study contributes valuable insights into the complex interplay between air pollutants, meteorological factors, and human activities, emphasizing the importance of proactive environmental management strategies in educational settings. © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy Sciences 2024.