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Abstract: Every year during the winter and pre-monsoon periods most of the Indian peninsula, Bay of Bengal and the adjoining Indian Ocean are affected by a polluted regional haze, known as the South Asian Winter Haze (SAWH). This article is the first of a series of three papers collectively anticipated at the central idea of retrieving aerosol component type and effective radius of the SAWH by incorporating experimental data of ground-based solar radiometer into Mie theory, and validation by collocated in-situ measurements. The work presented in this paper provides an approach to retrieve optical depths and their spectral curvature for SAWH at a tropical coastal station, Visakhapatnam (17.7°N, 83.3°E). A dataset comprised of 92 wintertime atmospheric optical depths are obtained from spectral extinction measurements of direct solar flux by means of a Multi-Wavelength Solar Radiometer during the period of October 2002 to February 2004. The inter-channel correlations established a linear relation and the airmass conditions specific to this dataset suggested a two-component linear model; the stable and variable components of which are analysed to obtain the mentioned optical parameters. Results indicate that the spectral curvature is best represented by a Lorentz model with a central wavelength of 0.40425±0.02945μm, a width of 0.40382±0.10253μm, a constant of 0.92623±0.33793, and a wavelength independent component of 0.95778±0.15678. Resonance-like structure of the obtained spectral curvature resembles wavelength dependent extinction characteristic of absorbing soot particles; thereby supports the key findings from INDOEX campaign. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, the concentration of acid and water-soluble ions (Na+, K+, Mg++, Ca++, F−, Cl−, NO3 − and SO4 − −) in different particle size range (>1.1–<2.0μm, >2.0–<3.3μm, >3.3–<4.7μm, >4.7–<5.8μm, >5.8–<9.0μm and >9μm–<10μm) of PM10 atmospheric aerosols collected by six stages Anderson Cascade Impactor were determined using conductivity suppressed ion-chromatography system. Suspended particulate matters in the form of respirable (PM10) aerosols were collected on the roof of a three storied building at a height of 20m above the ground, at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai using Hi-Volume Sampler (HVS) with Whatman glass fiber filter paper during the period of March–June 2009. The sequence of solubility of ions in both extractants (acid+water) of PM10 aerosols from greatest to least was found to be Na+ >Ca++ >K+ >Cl− >F− >Mg++ >NO3 − ≈SO4 −−. The average concentration of Na+, K+, Mg++, Ca++, F−, Cl−, NO3 − and SO4 −− in PM10 aerosols was estimated to be 13.36g/kg, 3.76g/kg,0.251g/kg,3.771g/kg,0.833g/kg,1.17g/kg, 81μg/kg and 290μg/kg respectively. The enrichment of particular ion in soluble components may be due to its high abundance in PM10 aerosols, less sorptivity with the tiny solid particles of atmospheric dust, high extractability and leachability, high solubility and mobility. By classifying the PM10 aerosols into two categories viz fine particle (<2.5μm) and coarse particle (>2.5μm–<10μm), it was found that generally, in the fine particle, the geometric mean concentration of total soluble ions in acid and water components was found to be higher than coarse particle. Overall, it was also observed that generally as particle size increases, the geometric mean concentration of soluble ions in both extractants of PM10 aerosols decreases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]