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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L02807, doi:10.1029/2007GL032333, 2008

Decadal growth of black carbon emissions in India

S. K. Sahu

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India


G. Beig

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India


C. Sharma

National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India


Abstract

A Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology has been used to construct the black carbon (BC) emission inventory for the Indian geographical region. The distribution of emissions from a broader level to a spatial resolution of 1° × 1° grid has been carried out by considering micro level details and activity data of fossil fuels and bio-fuels. Our calculated total BC emissions were 1343.78 Gg and 835.50 Gg for the base years 2001 and 1991 respectively with a decadal growth of around 61%, which is highly significant. The district level analysis shows a diverse spatial distribution with the top 10% emitting districts contributing nearly 50% of total BC emission. Coal contributes more than 50% of total BC emission. All the metropolitan cities show high BC emissions due to high population density giving rise to high vehicular emissions and more demand of energy.

Received 17 October 2007; accepted 5 December 2007; published 23 January 2008.

Keywords: emissions; black carbon; fossil fuel; bio-fuel; inventory.

Index Terms: 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251); 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906); 1605 Global Change: Abrupt/rapid climate change (4901, 8408); 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 1630 Global Change: Impacts of global change (1225).

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Citation: Sahu, S. K., G. Beig, and C. Sharma (2008), Decadal growth of black carbon emissions in India, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L02807, doi:10.1029/2007GL032333.