Aerosol characteristics over east coast of india during winter time

Measurement of aerosol properties during a typical winter season at three select locations, namely Visakhapatnam, Kharagpur and Kolkata on the East coast of India to better understand and quantify the spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of aerosols over the region and to study their impact on the regional radiative forcing. An attempt is also made to assess the transport pathways from one part of this region to another. Higher AODs at all wavelengths in the afternoon hours over Visakhapatnam (VSP) resembled those observed at Kolkata (KOL) in morning time. The Angstrom size index α was observed to be high ~ 1.7 at VSP, ~ 1.4 at Kharagpur (KGP) and ~ 1.1 at KOL during the clear sky conditions indicating the variability in the dominance of fine mode particles from location to location. The surface level aerosol mode mass concentrations (in g/m3) at KOL and VSP are more or less similar excepting a larger nucleation mode concentration at KOL. In the context of widespread aerosol haze in this region during wintertime, the observed results have implications on hydrological cycle resulting in global consequences.