Source contribution of black carbon aerosol during 2020–2022 at an urban site in Indo-Gangetic Plain

The extensive emissions of black carbon (BC) from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region of India have been recognized to contribute significantly to global climatic warming and negatively affect human health. Particularly, biomass emissions from month-specific crop-residue burning (April, May, October, November) and heating activities (December–February) are considered substantial contributors to BC emissions in the IGP. However, their precise contribution to ambient BC aerosols has not been quantified yet and remains an issue of debate. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by quantifying the contribution of these month-specific biomass emissions to ambient BC at an urban site in IGP. This study presents the analysis of BC mass concentrations (MBC) measured for 3 years (2020−2022) in Delhi using an optical photometer i.e., continuous soot monitoring system (COSMOS)). A statistical analysis of monthly mean MBC and factors affecting the MBC (ventilation coefficients, air mass back trajectories, fire counts) is performed to derive month-wise contribution due to background concentration, conventional emission, regional transport, crop-residue burning, and heating activities. The yearly mean MBC (5.3 ± 4.7, 5.6 ± 5.0, and 5.3 ± 3.5 μg m−3 during 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively) remained relatively consistent with repetitive monthly patterns in each year, where peak concentrations were observed from November to January and low concentrations from June to September. Anthropogenic activities contributed significantly to MBC over Delhi with background concentration contributing only 30 % of observed MBC. The percentage contribution of emissions from crop-residue burning varied from 15 % (May) to 37 % (November), while the contribution from heating activities ranged from 25 % (December) to 39 % (January). This source quantification study highlights the significant impact of month-specific biomass emissions in the IGP and can play a vital role in better management and control of these emissions in the region.