Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (2006) 118: 369–381
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-006-1503-9
c
Springer 2006
SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF PM
10
AND TSP IN RESIDENTIAL AND
INDUSTRIAL SITES IN AN URBAN AREA OF KOLKATA, INDIA
KAKOLI KARAR
1
, A. K. GUPTA
1,∗
, ANIMESH KUMAR
2
and ARUN KANTI BISWAS
3
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India;
2
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440020, India;
3
NEERI Zonal Centre, 1-8, Sector-C, East Kolkata Township, Kolkata 700107, India
(
∗
author for correspondence, e-mail: agupta@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in)
(Received 5 May 2005; accepted 29 July 2005)
Abstract. The objective of the study is to investigate seasonal and spatial variations of PM
10
(par-
ticulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 μm) and TSP (total suspended
particulate matter) of an Indian Metropolis with high pollution and population density from November
2003 to November 2004. Ambient concentration measurements of PM
10
and TSP were carried out
at two monitoring sites of an urban region of Kolkata. Monitoring sites have been selected based on
the dominant activities of the area. Meteorological parameters such as wind speed, wind direction,
rainfall, temperature and relative humidity were also collected simultaneously during the sampling
period from Indian Meteorological Department, Kolkata. The 24 h average concentrations of PM
10
and TSP were found in the range 68.2–280.6 μg/m
3
and 139.3–580.3 μg/m
3
for residential (Kasba)
area, while 62.4–401.2 μg/m
3
and 125.7–732.1 μg/m
3
for industrial (Cossipore) area, respectively.
Winter concentrations of particulate pollutants were higher than other seasons, irrespective of the
monitoring sites. It indicates a longer residence time of particulates in the atmosphere during winter
due to low winds and low mixing height. Spread of air pollution sources and non-uniform mixing
conditions in an urban area often result in spatial variation of pollutant concentrations. The higher
particulate pollution at industrial area may be attributed due to resuspension of road dust, soil dust,
automobile traffic and nearby industrial emissions. Particle size analysis result shows that PM
10
is
about 52% of TSP at residential area and 54% at industrial area.
Keywords: particulate matter, seasonal variation, spatial variation, statistical analysis, urban region
1. Introduction
Urban air quality in developing countries has deteriorated gradually because of
rapid urbanization, population growth, lack of sufficient public facilities and in-
dustrialization. PM
10
(particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or
equal to 10 μm) is the respirable fraction of the TSP (total suspended particulate
matter) that deeply embeded in human lung tissue and cause respiratory problems
and exacerbates other cardiovascular diseases (Rajkumar and Chang, 2000). Sev-
eral epidemiological studies have indicated a strong association between elevated
concentrations of PM
10
and increased mortality and morbidity (Arditsoglou and
Samara, 2005; Dockery and Pope, 1994; Lin and Lee, 2004; Namdeo and Bell,