Seasonal Air Quality Profile of Size-Segregated Aerosols in the Ambient Air of a Central Indian Region

Seasonal distribution trends of size-segregated aerosols i.e. submicron (PM₁), fine (PM_2.5) and coarse (PM_2.5–10) and their relationship with meteorological variables employing correlation analysis were studied in the ambient air of central India from July 2009 to June 2010. The annual mean concentrations of PM₁, PM_2.5 and PM_2.5–10 were found to be 65.7, 135.0 and 118.5 μg m^?3, respectively. The annual mean PM_2.5 concentration is three times higher than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of India (NAAQS). Higher concentrations of PM₁, PM_2.5 and PM_2.5–10 were found during winter due to enormous biomass burning especially during night time due to the use of combustible goods like fire wood and dung cake in the open space by the peoples to keep themselves warm and lower concentrations were observed during monsoon when there were high precipitations. PM_2.5 showed high positive correlation with PM₁ (r = 0.69) and moderate correlation with PM_2.5–10 indicating that variation in PM_2.5 mass is governed by the variation in PM₁ mass or vice versa.