Response of vehicular emissions to air pollution and radiation - A case study during public strike in Hyderabad, India

The scope of the present study is to analyse the variations in aerosol optical properties due to absence of vehicle emissions alone and its infuence on global solar and the erythemal UV (UVerythemal) radiation over the urban region of Hyderabad, India. In this context, systematic measurements on the atmospheric aerosols, global solar radiation and UVerythemal were carried out using ground based instruments. The analysis was performed during public strikes and the results compared with normal days. A decrease in AOD550 (49 to 73%) and increase in the global solar reaition (17%) and UVerythemal (5 to 21%) radiation were observed on strike days compared to normal days. The present study highlightes the contribution of vehicular pollution to the aerosol optical properties and its infuence on the ground reaching solar radiation and also the UVerythemal radiation, associated with the public strike in the metropolitan cities. © 2015 Chinese Institute of Environmental Engineering. All rights reserved.