Planetary boundary layer height modulates aerosol - water vapour
interactions during winter in the megacity of Delhi
Sachin S. Gunthe
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India., Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
Author ProfileAbstract
The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is one of the dominant sources of air
pollution worldwide. During winter, the variations in planetary boundary
layer (PBL) height, driven by a strong radiative thermal inversion,
affect the regional air pollution dispersion. To date, measurements of
aerosol-water vapour interactions, especially cloud condensation nuclei
(CCN) activity, are limited in the Indian sub-continent, causing large
uncertainties in the radiative forcing estimates of aerosol-cloud
interactions. We present the results of a one-month field campaign
(February-March 2018) in the megacity, Delhi, a significant polluter in
the IGP. We measured the composition of fine particulate matter (PM1)
and size-resolved CCN properties over a wide range of water vapour
supersaturations. The analysis includes PBL modelling, backward
trajectories, and fire spots to elucidate the influence of PBL and air
mass origins on the aerosols. The aerosol properties depended strongly
on the PBL height, and a simple power-law fit could parameterize the
observed correlations of PM1 mass, aerosol particle number, and CCN
number with PBL height, indicating PBL induced changes in aerosol
accumulation. The low inorganic mass fractions, low aerosol
hygroscopicity and high externally mixed weakly CCN-active particles
under low PBL height (<100 m) indicated the influence of the
PBL on aerosol aging processes. In contrast, aerosol properties did not
depend strongly on air mass origins or wind direction, implying that the
observed aerosol and CCN are from local emissions. An error function
could parameterize the relationship between CCN number and
supersaturation throughout the campaign.