Transport of Particulate Matter Due to Meteorological Changes Analyzed by HYSPLIT

Abstract

The air quality in the urban region varies based on the sources of air pollution from regions near and far. Any pollution produced in the urban region affects the locality near the pollution source and also adjacent distant regions. The study of the interaction between the local weather patterns of a region and the pollutants in the air is needed for air quality management. It is explicit that Chennai city has a high level of air pollution. But the unavailability of the relevant data on the air pollution sources makes the management difficult. If the data on air pollution in the region of Chennai is known, it will be helpful to provide control measures. Between January 2017 and December 2017, the particulate matter below the size of 2.5 micron (PM2.5) was assessed. It was quite concentrated in the metropolitan city of Chennai situated at the shores of the Bay of Bengal. This assessment is to study the transport phenomenon and expansion of the pollutant particles initially emanating from Chennai. This occurs mainly due to the westerly winds originating in the Bay of Bengal. The time duration of the analysis showed an average PM2.5 concentration of 63.524 � 18.942 �g/m3. This far exceeds the regulations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Various regions of the country as affected by different distant sources of pollution in and around Chennai were evaluated by the trajectory modeling. The pollution in the regions of the vicinity is assessed using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Approach (HYSPLIT) software. The method and results are fruitful for similar estimates elsewhere.