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Ann. Geophys., 23, 3219-3227, 2005
www.ann-geophys.net/23/3219/2005/
© European Geosciences Union 2005
Spatial characteristics of aerosol physical properties over the northeastern parts of peninsular India
K. Niranjan1, B. Melleswara Rao1, P. S. Brahmanandam1, B. L. Madhavan1, V. Sreekanth1, and K. Krishna Moorthy2
1Department of Physics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India
2Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum 695 022, India
Abstract. Measurements on aerosol spectral optical depths and near surface mass-size
distributions made at several locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh,
Orissa and Chattisgarh, constituting the northeastern part of the peninsular
India during the ISRO-GBP land campaign-I show significant regional
variations in aerosol physical properties. Higher spectral optical depths
were observed in the coastal regions and over southern latitudes compared to
interior continental regions and northern latitudes. The optical depths,
size index "α" and the near surface aerosol mass concentrations
indicate a relative abundance of nucleation mode aerosols in the northern
latitudes, in contrast to the dominance of the accumulation mode aerosols at
the eastern coastal and southern latitudes. The airmass pathways derived
from the back trajectory analysis indicate that the higher aerosol
population in the accumulation mode, and consequently the higher optical
depths in the southern locations, could be due to the transport of aerosol
from the polluted north Indian regions via the oceanic region over the Bay of
Bengal, where significant particle growth is expected, increasing the
population of accumulation mode aerosols over these regions.
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