Muhammad Abbas, M. Phil Physics, 2015-2017 Supervised by Dr. Naveed Ahmad
Characterization of Aerosol samples collected from Lahore region and their possible effect of climate
/ Muhammad Abbas
- Lahore : Division of Science & Technology, University of Education, 2018
- 90 p. CD
Particulate Matter (PM) strongly affects the living beings and climate of a particular region or area. Current research work emphasizes on calculation of mass concentration, size distribution, chemical composition and the source apportionment in provincial capital of Pakistan (Lahore). The PM was collectedusing MOUDI Impactor rotating model 110 – R for a specific time period i.e. from November, 2016 to February, 2017. The average standard deviation in mass concentrations of total suspended particulate matter (TSPM), coarser particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ultra-fine particulate matter (PM0.1) were observed to be 932.36 ± 70.82, 517.77 ± 35.27, 210 ±17.77 and 204.59 ± 17.78µgm-3, respectively. TSPM, PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.1 samples were analyzed chemically for 23 elements including Na, P, K, S, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Sr, Pb, Cl2, Cd, Cr, Sb, Sn, Se, Mg, Ni, Ba and Al using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The crustal enrichment factors (EF) were calculated using Fe as a reference for the trace metal species to identify the sourcesas crustal elements with EF ≤ 1, weak crustal elements with 1 ≤ EF ≤ 5 and non-crustal elements with EF > 5. US-EPA Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model was used for source apportionment of PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.1. Five possible sources were analyzed in PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.1 and observations reveal that road and industrial dust, vehicular emissions, iron and steel industry, oil burning in various sectors and biomass burning contribute 26.84, 29.4, 14.3, 15.8 and 13.7% to PM10 mass, 28.5, 25.2, 19.1, 110.3 and 16.8% to PM2.5 mass and 27.4, 23.3, 17.6, 21.7 and 10% to PM0.1 mass, respectively. NOAA HYSPLIT online model was run for time duration of 24 hours using GDAS Meteorological Data over three heights i.e. 500, 1000 and 1500 m from the sea level. Moreover, the backward trajectory analysis after adjusting the geographical location of Lahore at 31.93N to 74.58E, suggested that PM sources are located at Indian Punjab, Jammu Kashmir, Afghanistan, deserts of Sindh, cities of Pakistan located at motorways, GT road and local sources of Lahore itself. Keywords: Particulate Matter; Mass concentrations; GDAS Meteorological Data; Climate change.