Characteristic Behaviour of the Air Pollutant NO2 Over an Urban Coastal Area Along the Bay of Bengal

B. Muthulakshmi, S. Johnson Jeyakumar and I. Kartharinal Punithavathy

Characteristic Behaviour of the Air Pollutant NO2 Over an Urban Coastal Area Along the Bay of Bengal

2019

B. Muthulakshmi, S. Johnson Jeyakumar and I. Kartharinal Punithavathy

To study the characteristic behaviour of NO2 is quite necessary. Nitrogen dioxide is a major pollutant in the atmosphere, being a precursor to acid rain, photochemical smog, and ozone accumulation. Measurements of NO2 data over a period of one year (October 2014-September 2015) have been used to evaluate the NO2 concentration levels. The frequency distribution of NO2 reveals that out of the total 8760 data points, about 86% of NO2 lies between 5 ppb and 20 ppb. The lowest distribution is found in the range of 0-5 ppb, while the highest lies in the range of 10-15 ppb. The NO2 measurement level has been examined on a diurnal and seasonal scale. The diurnal scale of NO2 shows lesser values during daytime and higher values during night hours. The NO2 concentration levels are high in summer and minimum in the north-east monsoon. The daytime and night-time NO2 concentration pattern is found to be similar to the global scenario. It is observed that the NO2 concentrations in the study area are not high enough to pose health problems. The observed NO2 concentration levels at the study area are well within the National Ambient Air Quality standard for the entire period of study.

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