ATMOS
Atmospheric and Climate Science Lab.


Atmospheric Pollution and Rural Air quality
SIGNIFICANCE
Though clean air is a basic requirement of human health and well-being along with land and water. However, the air pollution not only poses a significant threat to human health and ecosystem but also a etc., climate, cryosphere, monsoon patterns, water cycle, agriculture and income. So air quality management and climate change mitigation are two inexorably linked environmental challenges of the twenty- rst century. The issue of air quality and atmospheric pollution need to be addressed through the consideration of energy production and consumption patterns globally, regionally and locally as the sources are mainly associated with these processes.
Effective mitigation of air pollution requires the understanding and quantifying the major contributing pollutant sources. Pollutants either be emitted directly or formed through photo-chemical reactions in the atmosphere by naturally or anthropogenic processes. Directly emitted pollutants can be managed by reducing their emissions, although source identification is challenging. The concentration of air pollutants depends not only on the quantities that are emitted from the polluting sources, but also on the ability of the atmosphere to either absorb or disperse such emissions through dynamic processes. Management of second type pollutants is more complex and intriguing because of their relationships to emission sources which may not be readily apparent and response to emission reductions may not be proportional. Studies show that the atmospheric pollutants contribute to climatic and cryospheric changes through their effects on solar radiation and the albedos of snow and ice surfaces.
The atmospheric pollution, climate change and cryospheric changes are closely related and necessary to be investigated in a coupled and integrated framework is our prime interest. The impact of air pollution at local, regional and global level has to be determined which are governed by different dynamic processes of emission and/or formation, transport, and removal and/or destruction processes. Addressing them in a coordinated manner can simultaneously slow down the rate of climate change and protect human health and ecosystems, including agriculture. Yet, air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs) and their impacts are often considered independently in both scientific and policy spheres, but a recent model study says that with- out reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and extreme weather will intensify in the 21st century.
Though the connections between greenhouse gases, climate change, and air pollution is very complex, they need to be investigated in a coupled and integrated framework is another important subject of research.
A strong group of researchers are involving in this field with well equipped facilities at the Atmos lab, CORAL IIT KGP in collaboration with IITM Pune, CSIR NPL, CNRS, Univ Belgium, Uni Bremen based on following resources:
Data Used: Satellite data: MODIS, INSAT, MOPIT, TROPOMI, GOME, MISR etc. Reanalysis Data: MERRA2, CAMS, ERA 5 etc. Ground observation data: CPCB, AERONET, Ozonesonde etc.
Platform: NASA (JPL), NOAA, ISRO, CPCB, NCEP, ECMWF etc.
MODEL: WRF-Chem, CHIMERE etc.
The team mainly focused on analyzing AOD, BC, PM, OC, SO2, NO2, CO, Tropospheric Ozone in the region Antarctic (South Pole), Arctic (North Pole), HKH (Third Pole), South Asia and other parts of the globe and their association with climate change and impact of climate change on trace gases.