National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has
established an atmospheric monitoring station in the campus of Institute of
Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) at Palampur (H.P.) at an altitude of
1391 m for generating the base data for atmospheric trace species &
properties to serve as reference for comparison of polluted atmosphere in
India. At this station, NPL has installed state of art air monitoring system,
greenhouse gas measurement system and Raman Lidar. A number of parameters like
CO, NO, NO2, NH3, SO2, O3, PM, HC & BC besides CO2 & CH4 are being
currently monitored at this station which is also equipped with weather station
(AWS) for measurement of weather parameters.
This station has been dedicated to
nation today by Dr. D.K. Aswal, Director, NPL and Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director,
IHBT. A number of senior scientist present included Dr. R.K. Kotnala, Head,
Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division of NPL, Mr. M.P.
Goyal, Dr. S.K. Vats, Dr. Brij Lal, Dr Sanjay Uniyal, and large number of research
students. Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Aswal stressed upon the need to
promote quality measurements in atmospheric sciences which would help in
developing appropriate policy measures for societal goods. He also underlined
the need to develop synergies & interactions between all the agencies
undertaking atmospheric monitoring for this purpose. Dr. Sanjay Kumar in his
inaugural speech mentioned the need for setting up of such state of art
monitoring systems in Himalayan region to assess the vulnerability of region’s
sensitive ecosystem due to climate change & pollution. During the function,
Dr. R.K. Kotnala appreciated the collaboration between the CSIR-NPL &
CSIR-IHBT in setting up this state of art monitoring facility which will serve
as reference station. Dr. Chhemendra Sharma provided the perspectives and
objectives of the CSIR’s XII Five Year Plan Project `AIM_IGPHim` under which
this facility has been established and thanked the colleagues of NPL & IHBT
for their contributions. The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
(CSIR) has funded this project under its XII Five Year Plan projects.
In India, air quality parameters are
mostly measured in industrial and residential areas, however, data for air
quality of pristine atmosphere is not available in India. NPL’s station will
contribute to fill this important gap. The NPL’s station will also serve as a
base station for inter-comparison of air quality monitoring equipment being
used in India to improve quality of monitored data in India. As the issues of
atmospheric pollution has assumed a significant proportion of social concerns,
it is utmost important to ensure quality of atmospheric monitoring so as to
devise appropriate policies for abatement of air pollution based on sound
scientific data for their effectiveness.
NPL has undertaken activities to
contribute in improving the quality of atmospheric monitoring through providing
traceable measurement facilities to various stake holders in the country and
the NPL ’s monitoring station is an important step in that direction. In
addition, NPL is also developing calibration standards for different pollutant
gases and PM10 samplers for use in atmospheric monitoring.
The pristine CAAQMS station houses
calibrated state-of-the-art-equipment for the continuous measurements of
ambient and greenhouse gases (CO, NO, NO2, NH3, SO2, O3, PM1, PM2.5, PM10,
hydrocarbons, black-carbon, CO2 & CH4), and weather parameters. Because of
Palampur’s pristine air, and the capability of the new monitoring station for
detection of small amounts of pollutants, the impact of faraway pollution
sources can be measured precisely. The data taken at this station during past
one year shows that the pollution levels are far below the limits of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In
addition, this new station has the experimental facilities to investigate the
aerosol/cloud interactions, and such investigations would be helpful in
generating a better understanding of the Earth's climate system.
The data generated by pristine CAAQMS
station at Palampur will act as background data for the measured pollution at
various cities in the country. The generated background data will be shared
with different pollution control boards and agencies in the country so that the
more precise pollution mapping traceable to standard values can be done, which
in turn, would assist policy decisions for the abatement of air pollutants.
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KSP/nb
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