Assessment of PM10 and PM2.5 over Ghaziabad, an industrial city in the Indo-Gangetic Plain: spatio-temporal variability and associated health effects

This study examined the PM10 and PM2.5 concentration, associated mortality, and transport pathways in Ghaziabad which is an industrial city in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. To achieve this, PM (both PM10 and PM2.5) and meteorological parameters were measured from June 2018 to May 2019 at 2 locations and analyzed together with data from a 3rd location in Ghaziabad. The highest daily average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were similar to 1000 mu g m(-3) and similar to 450 mu g m(-3), respectively. At each of the three locations, the annual mean PM10 concentrations were similar to 260 +/- 150 mu g m(-3) while the PM2.5 concentrations were 140 +/- 90 mu g m(-3). Nonparametric Spearman rank correlation analysis between meteorological parameters and PM concentrations indicated that ventilation coefficient was anti-correlated with PM concentration during the post-monsoon and winter seasons (the most polluted seasons) with rank correlation values of approximately - 0.50. Multiple linear regression (MLR) revealed that the variability in local meteorological parameters account for similar to 50% variability (maximum) in PM10 mass during the monsoon and PM2.5 during the post-monsoon season. For long-range sources, cluster and concentrated weighted trajectory (CWT) analyses utilizing regional meteorology showed the impact of transported PM from sources in Arabian sea through western India in monsoon and from parts of South Asia through Northwestern IGP and neighboring cities in Uttar Pradesh in other seasons. Finally, mortality estimates show that the number of deaths attributable to ambient PM2.5 in Ghaziabad were similar to 873 per million individuals which was similar to 70% higher than Delhi.