Quantifying the high resolution seasonal emission of air pollutants from crop residue burning in India

Biomass burning, a recurring global phenomenon is also considered an environmental menace, making headlines every year in India with onset of autumn months. Agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India. Hence, disposal of crop residue is done mainly by burning leading to deterioration of air quality. Residue burning in parts of India is blamed for changing air quality in nearby cities. The spatial distribution of these emissions has always been a challenge due to various data constraints. We hereby present a comprehensive spatially resolved seasonal high resolution gridded (similar to 10 km x similar to 10 km) emission inventory of major pollutants from crop residue burning source in India for the latest year 2018. The winter months contributes almost around similar to 50% of total emission followed by summer (similar to 48%), which is the prime cause of changing air quality in nearby cities. Among all the crops; rice, wheat, maize and sugarcane accounts similar to 90% of total PM10 load in the country. The estimated emission for PM2.5, PM10, BC and OC, CO, NOx, SO2, VOC, CH4 and CO2 are found to 990.68 Gg/yr, 1231.26 Gg/yr, 123.33 Gg/yr, 410.99 Gg/yr, 11208.18 Gg/yr, 484.55 Gg/yr, 144.66 Gg/yr, 1282.95 Gg/yr, 785.56 Gg/yr and 262051.06 Gg/yr respectively. The cropping pattern and its role in different geographic regions are analysed to identify all potential emission hotspots regions scattered across the country. The developed gridded emissions inventory is envisaged to serve as an important input to regional atmospheric chemistry transport model to better quantify its contribution in deteriorating air quality in various regions of India, paving the way to policy makers to better plan the mitigation and control strategies. The developed fundamental tool is likely to be useful for air quality management. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Biomass burning is a significant environmental threat in India, especially during autumn months, impacting air quality in nearby cities. Crop residue burning from rice, wheat, maize and sugarcane contributes to a large portion of PM10 emissions in the country, with winter and summer being the peak emission seasons. The developed gridded emissions inventory provides valuable data for policy makers to plan mitigation and control strategies for deteriorating air quality in various regions of India.