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Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic characteristics of PM2.5 and PM10 in Delhi, India

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Abstract

This study presents the chemical composition (carbonaceous and nitrogenous components) of aerosols (PM2.5 and PM10) along with stable isotopic composition (δ13C and δ15N) collected during winter and the summer months of 2015–16 to explore the possible sources of aerosols in megacity Delhi, India. The mean concentrations (mean ± standard deviation at 1σ) of PM2.5 and PM10 were 223 ± 69 µg m−3 and 328 ± 65 µg m−3, respectively during winter season whereas the mean concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were 147 ± 22 µg m−3 and 236 ± 61 µg m−3, respectively during summer season. The mean value of δ13C (range: − 26.4 to − 23.4‰) and δ15N (range: 3.3 to 14.4‰) of PM2.5 were − 25.3 ± 0.5‰ and 8.9 ± 2.1‰, respectively during winter season whereas the mean value of δ13C (range: − 26.7 to − 25.3‰) and δ15N (range: 2.8 to 11.5‰) of PM2.5 were − 26.1 ± 0.4‰ and 6.4 ± 2.5‰, respectively during the summer season. Comparison of stable C and N isotopic fingerprints of major identical sources suggested that major portion of PM2.5 and PM10 at Delhi were mainly from fossil fuel combustion (FFC), biomass burning (BB) (C-3 and C-4 type vegitation), secondary aerosols (SAs) and road dust (SD). The correlation analysis of δ13C with other C (OC, TC, OC/EC and OC/WSOC) components and δ15N with other N components (TN, NH4+ and NO3−) are also support the source identification of isotopic signatures.

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Data availability

The datasets developed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors (SKS, TKM) are thankful to the Director, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi and Head, Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi for their encouragement and support for this study. Authors are also thankful to NOAA Air Resources Laboratory and Website (http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html) for trajectory datasets.

Funding

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi are thankfully acknowledged for providing partial financial support for this study (PSC-0112).

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  1. CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Road, 110 012, New Delhi, India

    Sudhir Kumar Sharma & Tuhin Kumar Mandal

  2. CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, 430 004, Dona Paula, Goa, India

    Supriya G. Karapurkar & Damodar M. Shenoy

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  1. Sudhir Kumar Sharma
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Conception and design of the study were planned by SKS; Data collection and analysis were performed by SKS; DS, SGK, TKM; the first draft was written by SKS. Data interpretation was carried out by SKS, DS, SGK, TKM. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Sharma, S.K., Karapurkar, S.G., Shenoy, D.M. et al. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic characteristics of PM2.5 and PM10 in Delhi, India. J Atmos Chem 79, 67–79 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-022-09429-0

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