Enhancement of BC concentration associated with Diwali festival in India

Diwali festival in India is popularly known as the “festival of illumination”, celebrated between mid-October and mid-November of each year depending upon Hindu calendar. During this festival, people light their houses with candles and oil lamps and play with crackers and have fireworks one or two days prior to Diwali day especially in urban areas. The air quality is found to degrade on the Diwali day and this continues for few days after Diwali. The atmospheric aerosol loading is found to increase abruptly after Diwali. In the present paper, we discuss changes in black carbon concentration and total ozone column associated with Diwali festival.