Field Investigations of Black Carbon Concentration in Ambient Air Quality of a Megacity: A Case Study of Ahmedabad

Abstract

In the present study, we have measured Black Carbon (BC) mass concentration over Ahmedabad city during the year 2017 and 2018. The measurements of BC have been carried out at various locations of the city during winter, summer, and post monsoon seasons. The concentration of black carbon has been found high in industrial areas and traffic junctions. In 2017, the measured high black carbon concentration was 80.73 µg/m3 and in 2018, it has increased to 83.7 µg/m3. Delta C value generally indicates wood burning as a BC source and its value is up to 20.38 µg/m3 in Ahmedabad during 2017-18. This study is helpful to estimate the major hotspots of BC mass concentration over the city and we have tried to find the major contributors to BC emission.