Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Ambient Air Quality of Industrial, Urban and Rural Belts in and around Ahmedabad Metro City, Gujarat, India
Description
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that climate change could attribute directly by natural processes or indirectly through anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere. The impacts of climate change due to deforestation, industrialization, urbanization and agricultural practices on air quality and human health and ecosystem are vulnerable. The aim of this study was to correlate impacts of climate change on ambient air quality (AAQ: NOx, SOx, NH3, PM2.5, PM10 - µg/m3), meteorological parameters (MET: Temperature (°C), Surface Temp. (°C), Light Intensity (Lux), Wind Speed (kmh), Relative Humidity (%), greenhouse gases (GHG: CO2, N2O, CH4 - ppmv) and air quality index (AQI) of industrial (IN), urban (UR) and rural (RU) belts in and around Ahmedabad Metro City (AMC), Gujarat, India during Phase-I (P-I, January), Phase-II (P-II, February) and Phase-III (P-III, March) in 2021. Gradients of AAQ in studied zones was NOx (IN: 35.21, UR: 26.85, RU: 15.41), SOx (IN: 76.48, UR: 34.41, RU: 12.59), NH3 (UR: 49.33, IN: 42.36, RU: 11.17), PM2.5 (UR: 5.50, IN: 3.06, RU: 2.28) and PM10 (IN: 7.12, UR: 5.38, RU: 2.19); MET (Temperature: UR: 40.40, RU: 31.70, IN: 27.60; Surface Temp.: UR: 43.17, RU: 35.20, IN: 31.97; Light Intensity: UR: 1446.00, RU: 10294.00, IN: 6360.70; Wind Speed: IN: 4.67, RU: 3.73, UR: 2.40; Relative Humidity: IN: 41.77, UR: 35.93, RU: 32.97); AQI (P-I: IN: 77.40, UR: 54.76, RU: 16.71; P-II: IN: 102.42, UR: 68.45, RU: 25.64; P-III: IN: 123.04, UR: 84.79, RU: 41.87; IN: 100.95- Unhealthy for Sensitive People, UR: 69.33, RU: 28.07-Good; AMC: 66.12-Moderate); GHG (CO2: RU: 1359.14, IN: 1002.71, UR: 884.05; N2O: IN: 154.39, UR: 138.86, RU: 128.11; CH4: RU: 0.78, UR: 0.73, IN: 0.64). Overall, NOx & SOx were more in IN, NH3 & PM2.5 in UR, PM10 in RU; Temperature, Surface Temp. & Light Intensity in UR, Wind Speed & Relative Humidity in IN; AQI in IN was Unhealthy for Sensitive People, Moderate in UR, Good in RU and Moderate in AMC; CO2 in IN, N2O in UR, CH4 in RU. The study concludes that the air quality of Ahmedabad Metro City is on ‘Good (Rural) to Moderate (Urban)’ scale for normal living, and ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive People’ for population residing in or near industrial zone. The findings of the present study warrant the implicative measures of climate change policies to promote public transportation in lower pollution levels for lesser greenhouse emissions on crossroads. Garbage burning and linked toxic emissions need an immediate management solutions in fringe areas of the city. The dust re-suspension on the roads due to the vehicular movement is the low-hanging fruit for immediate improvements in city’s air quality. The brick oven sector, although outside the town body limits, has a significant role in reducing pollution and providing the co-benefits attributable to the combination of fuels (including biomass), alternative pollutants like Black Carbon has a significant role to play within the climate policy.