IJEP 15 ( 10 ) : 7 3 4 - 7 3 8 ( R e c e i v e d on A u g u s t 2 4 , 1 9 9 5 )

Climatological Atmospheric Dilution Indices over India

D.V. V i s w a n a d h a m , S t u t i M i s h r a a n d A . N . V . S a t y a n a r a y a n a
Banaras Hindu University, Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, Varanasi - 221 005

A t m o s p h e r i c d i l u t i o n i n d i c e s ( A D l ) g i v e n a n idea o f t h e c a p a c i t y o f t h e a t m o s p h e r e t o d i s p e r s e
and d i l u t e t h e p o l l u t a n t s e m i t t e d i n t o it by m y r i a d sources. The higher t h e index t h e b e t t e r is t h e
d i l u t i o n . T h e s e i n d i c e s a r e c o m p u t e d based o n t h e v e r t i c a l a n d h o r i z o n t a l e x t e n t o f m i x i n g o f t h a
a t m o s p h e r e by s u i t a b l y devising t h e s t r u c t u r e of the indices. In t h e present paper A D l have been
c o m p u t e d o n a c l i m o t o l o g i c a l bases f o r 2 0 s t a t i o n s s p r e a d a l l o v e r I n d i a . W i t h t h e h e l p o f i s o p l e t h
a n a l y s i s t h e s p a t i a l d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t h e s e i n d i c e s o v e r I n d i a has been s t u d i e d f o r 4 m o n t h , n a m -
ely J a n u a r y , A p r i l , J u l y a n d O c t o b e r , w h i c h are t y p i c a l o f 4 seasons. T h e a n a l y s i s h a s b e e n c a -
r r i e d o u t t w i c e a day a t t h e o c c u r a n c e o f m i n i m u m a n d m a x i m u m t e m p e r a t u r e . I t i s o b s e r v e d t h a t
p e n i n s u l a r I n d i a s h o w s r e l a t i v e l y h i g h e r i n d i c e s i n a l m o s t all t h e seasons. T h e e a r l y m o r n i n g A D l
are e x t r e m e l y l o w t h r o u g h o u t t h e c o u n t r y i n all t h e m o n t h s . A m i n i m u m A D l o f 4 i s d e s i r a b l e f o r
a s u f f i c i e n t dilution w h i c h is absent t h r o u g h o u t the c o u n t r y during morning hours.

INTRODUCTION a period of 9 year from 1 9 7 7 to 1 9 8 5 have been

There is a g r o w i n g concern and awareness about
the increasing problems caused by air pollution. Se-
veral episodes of air pollution were k n o w n to have
occured under adverse atmospheric conditions, such
as stable atmosphere, l o w mixing, calm w i n d s , te-
mperature inversions, etc. It is k n o w n that disper-
sion and d i l u t i o n of the pollutants emitted into the
atmosphere are solely governed by the prevailing
meteorological conditions. For an effective enviro-
nmental planning it is rather desirable to have an
idea of the dispersion and d i l u t i o n capacity of the
atmosphere for any given region or locaiitiy. A sui-
table index clearly defining the dispersive and dil-
utive capacity of the atmosphere w o u l d be extreme-
ly useful for general p u b l i c , the industry and the
policy makers.
To this end, a simple but effective structure of indi-
ces has been developed by the authors closely foll-
o w i n g Holzworth ( 1 9 6 4 ) . The indices are develop-
i
ed based on the extent of vertical and horizontal
mixing of the atmosphere. These indices have been
studied on a seasonal basis over the entire country
and the regions of effective and poor dilution have
been delineated.
MATERIAL
The daily upper data for the months of January, Ap-
ril, J u l y and October typical of winter, pre - mon-
soon and post - monsoon seasons, respectively for
made use of for the present study, hi addition, the
m a x i m u m and m i n i m u m temperatures, surface w i n -
ds have been made use of. The stations for w h i c h
data have been collected are Patiala, New Delhi,
Jodhpur, Ahemadabad, Nagpur, Gwaliar, L u c k n o w ,
Gorakhpur, Ranchi, Calcutta, Agartala, Bombay,
Goa, Mangalore, Cochin, Trivendrum, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Madras and Visakhapatnam.
A T M O S P H E R I C D I L U T I O N INDICES ( A D l )
These indices have been devised in such a w a y that
l o w values correspond to poor dilution capacity and
higher values correspond to better dilution. These
indices are numbered f r o m 1 to /, respectively co-
rresponding to very l o w , l o w , l o w medium, medium,
high m e d i u m , high, very high. The criteria for these
indices are based on the mixing heights and w i n d
speeds. Tables 1 to 3 depict the criteria for obtain-
ing A D l .
METHODOLOGY
The methods of determination of mixing heights has
been presented in several publications and hence
not attempted here ( Vittal Murty et at., 1 9 8 0 ; Vis-
wanadham and Santosh, 1 9 8 9 ; Viswanadham and
Pinakapani, 1 9 9 4 ) . The minimum and maximum mi-
xing heights have been obtained for the period un-
der study. The surface w i n d speeds nearer to these
timings have been noted. The A D l are first obtained
based on the mixing heights and then based on w i -

734 INDIAN J. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, V O L 1 5 , NO. 1 0 , OCTOBER .1995*

<S> 1695 - Kaip&na C o r p o r a t i o n
 F i g u r e 1. Spatial distribution of AD! over India •
F i g u r e 3. Spatial distribution of ADI over India -
Morning - January
Morning - Aprii

F i g u r e 2. Spatial distribution of ADI over India - F i g u r e 4. Spatial distribution of ADI over India -
Afternoon - January Afternoon - April
nd speeds f r o m tables 1 and 2. These 2 indices
spatial distribution of these mean A D I for morning
are then combined w i t h the help of table 3 to o b t -
and afternoon are presented for the 4 typical month.
ain the final ADI. The A D I are obtained t w i c e a day,
that is at the occurace of m i n i m u m and maximum RESULT A N D D I S C U S S I O N
temperatures since it is at these times that mi-
nimum and m a x i m u m mixing heights are obtai- January
ned. The mean ADI for morning and afternoon are Figures 1 and 2 represent spatial distribution of
finally, made use of for the isopleth analysis. The A D I for morning and afternoon in January. Gener-

INDIAN J. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, VOL. 1 5 , NO. 1 0 , OCTOBER 1 9 9 5 735

© 1 9 9 5 - Kalpa n a C o m n r a t l n n
 fg^tMiiM . „ mse . t i_E

F i g u r e 5. Spatial distribution of F i g u r e 7. Spatial distribution of ADl over India -

ADl over India-
Morning - October
Morning - July

F i g u r e 6. Spatial distribution of AD! over India - F i g u r e 8. Spatial distribution of ADl over India -
Afternoon - July Afternoon - October

ally the ADl are below 4 everywhere except near
south east coast. Barring southern peninsula the
rest of the country s h o w s A D l to be very low in the
morning. The coastal regions and the inland regio-
ns in southern India s h o w relatively high A D L But
on the whole the entire country shows o n l y l o w
A D l . The afternoon pattern is slightly better com-
pa?ed to that of morning. Once again southern par-
ts have s h o w e d extremely l o w or l o w . The gradient
of A D l is f r o m north to south, w i t h the entire pen-
insular India s h o w i n g 'high m e d i u m ' . Quite interes-
t i n g l y the l o n g i t u d i n a l variation is insignificant. Ce-
ntral parts of the country and the entire north India
show l o w A D l . This being the situation for the max-

736 INDIAN J. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, VOL. 1 5 , NO. 10, OCTOBER 1 9 9 5

© 1995 • Kalpana C o r p o r a t i o n
 T a b l e 1. ADI based on mixing heights )
distribution shows, as before, relatively high A D i ,
Indices M i x i n g heights, m the southern parts and extremely l o w ADI in the
1 <500 northern parts barring extreme western tip of north
3 500-1000 India. The ADI are between 1 and 3 in the northern
5 and central parts. The afternoon distribution also
1000-1500
7 shows more or less a similar pattern as that of mor-
>1500
ning. The western parts of north India and the com-
plete southern parts show high or very high ADI.
T a b l e 2. ADI based on wind speeds The north eastern parts and the extreme northern
Indices parts s h o w very l o w A D I despite monsoon winds.
W i n d speeds, m/sec
1 October
< 2
3 Spatial d i s t r i b u t i o n for morning and afternoon is
2-4
5 presented in figures 7 and 8. Once again the morn-
4-6
7 ing d i s t r i b u t i o n is similar to that of January. Except
> 6
the central peninsular India the A D I are extremely
T a b l e 3. Combined ADI based on mixing heights l o w . The afternoon distribution, however, shows
and wind speeds high to very high in southern peninsula and l o w in
Indices based on north India except north western parts.
Indices based on mixing hei-
w i n d speeds ghts In all, the morning distribution has depicted rela-
1 3 5 7 tively l o w A D I compared to that of afternoon. This
1 is very natural since both the vertical and horizontal
1 2 3 4
3 mixing are l o w during morning compared to that in
2 3 4 5 afternoon, w h e n the heat input is high along w i t h
5
3
7 4 5 6 stronger winds. The afternoon values are m a x i m u m
4 5 6 7
possible ADI that one c o u l d get. If one examines
the afternoon distribution alone January, J u l y and
imum possible index of the day, it certainly is a
October give a very bleak picture for north India.
cause of concern particularly for the complete cen-
tral a n d north India. South India on the otherhand, shows a promise sin-
ce the A D I is generally on the higher side irrespec-
April tive of the season, n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g seasonal diffe-
rences in magnitudes of A D I .
Figures 3 and 4 depict the spatial distribution for
morning and afternoon. The m o r n i n g situation is The south - north contrast arise essentially due to the
better w h e n compared w i t h that of January, the coastal characteristics the former possesses w h i c h
only exception being the western parts of central cause relatively high mixing during early morning
^ , d i a s h o w i n g relatively more dilution compared t o hours and relatively strong winds due to mesoscale
it's eastern counterparts. Once again the southern circulation, such as land and sea breezes. Even d u -
parts s h o w relatively high ADI but in absolute terms ring monsoon season the afternoon ADI could not
the m a x i m u m ADI are only l o w medium. The after- go beyond 3 in northern parts. It does not, however,
n o o n picture shows a differential distribution in mean that during the entire monsoon season, nor-
that the extreme western parts of north India and thern parts always show low or very l o w A D I .
the central parts of peninsular India s h o w the high- There c o u l d a l w a y s be individual instances w h e n
est possible ADI. The entire country shows the ADI the A D I c o u l d push up to 5 or even more but in
to be generally high. The m i n i m u m A D I observed is the mean it is l o w . One possible reason c o u l d be
m e d i u m and, therefore, the entire country can be that w i n d s are not that strong whenever the mon-
said to possess a high d i l u t i o n capacity. soon is not active in the northern parts. M o n s o o n
or no monsoon south India generally records rela-
July
tively strong w i n d s , more so during monsoon.
The spatial distribution of ADI for morning and afte-
The extreme north western parts also show in most
rnoon is presented in figures 5 and 6. The morning
of the cases a reasonable A D I . From the overall stu-

I N D I A N J. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, VOL. 15, NO. 1 0 . OCTOBER 1 9 9 5

737
© 1995 - Kalpana C o r p o r a t i o n
 dy it appears that generally the extreme southern
parts are quite favourable for better dispersal of po-
llutants f o l l o w e d to some extent by the n o r t h w e s t -
ern parts. The morning situations are extremely ala-
rming since the A D l are well below 4. This number
is not a magic figure, but is certainly considered to
be typical for a reasonably g o o d dispersal of pollu-
tants since an average mixing of more than thousa-
nd meter and an average w i n d speed of more than
4 m/s, to w h i c h this number corresponds to, are es-
sential for a reasonable dilution. The United States
Environmental Protection Agency stipulates a mixi-
ng height of 1 5 0 0 m and 4 m/s w i n d speed as the
limits for a good dilution. Either w a y , the d i l u t i o n is
very low, during April alone the entire afternoon
ADl are quite reasonable.
The adequacy of the present index is beyond repro-
ach. Some of the earlier indices Sastry and Vital
Murty ( 1 9 7 9 ) were based on vertical temperature
differences alone. We do mention that the inversio-
ns play a very vital role in restricting dilution of po-
llutants along w i t h stability of the atmosphere. Ex-
plicitly we have considered neither inversions nor
the atmospheric stability. It is implicit, however, si-
nce the determination of mixing height takes care
of the inversions and stability. We, therefore, feel
that the present index is quite reasonable and can
be used universally throughout the c o u n t r y , althou-
gh the limits prescribed in tables 1 and 2 are w i t h o -
ut an experimental basis thereby involving subjec-
tivity. Finer tuning is possible to the limits prescri-
bed b u t we strongly feel it makes very little differe-
nce in the absolute indices we have obtained.
7t8 INDIAN J. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, VOL. 15, NO. 1 0 , OCTOBER 1 9 9 5
© 1S95 Kelpena Corporation
CONCLUSION
Peninsular India exhibits higher A D l values in con-
trast ;o the relatively l o w values observed over nor-
thern parts of the country. During monsoon season,
south India w h i c h shows strong w i n d s because of
its coastal characteristics shows gives higher values
of ADl in contrast to northern region's A D l values.
Overall study reveals that dispersion of pollutants
is an efficient process over extreme southern regio-
ns. Northern and central parts of India do not app-
ear to possess a reasonable dilution capacity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are t h a n k f u l to the India Meteorological
Department for providing data. They are also thank-
ful to Dr K.R. Santosh ana Dr. V.V.S.N. Pinakapani,
REFERENCE
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Viswanadham, D.V. and V.V.S.N. Pinakapani. 1 9 9 4 .
Atmospheric dispersal capacity over north India.
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