VARIABILITY OF THE PARTICULATE MATTER CONCENTRATION IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF INDIA USING LOW-COST SENSORS

The Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) suffers from poor air quality and high atmospheric pollution over the years. Various natural and anthropogenic sources are the causes of the poor air quality, affecting the population in the IGP and surrounding areas. The local and long-range transport of dust affects the air quality of the IGP region and sometimes depending upon the favorable meteorological conditions dust reaches the Himalayan foothills. region. We have carried out the analysis of aerosol properties and air quality using a Microtop Sun photometer and low-cost air quality sensors at the IIT Mandi campus (high altitude site) and Dhampur (rural site). The observed PM2.5 and aerosol optical depth (AOD) at IIT Mandi show a strong influence of dust, however, the PM2.5 and AOD are found to be lower compared to the values observed at Dhampur (located 200 km northeast of Delhi). Local industries, dust, and crop residue burning are the main sources of pollution in the rural areas of the northern parts of India. The low-cost sensors provide good quality data from IIT Mandi and Dhampur, our results show the need for a dense network in rural places to understand the dynamics of pollutants, especially in the IGP, one of the polluted regions in India.