Effect on Aerosol Optical Depth during Diwali Festival in Varanasi, India

The present study is focused on the variation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and chemical properties during Diwali festival over Varanasi (25.27° N, 82.99° E). AOD is taken using ground based as well as satellite based observations using MICROTOPS-II and MODIS, respectively. The elemental components are analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Microanalyzer (EDX) analysis. Analysis of particulate matters (PM
2.5
and PM
10
) is done using high volume samplers, ground based observations. All the observations are divided in to three parts i.e. PreDiwali, Post-Diwali and Diwali event. AOD is found to be enhanced on Diwali day as huge amount of fire crackers are used by the peoples. Enhancement in AOD is observed by both ground based and satellite based observations. Enhancements in the elements are also found like carbon, silicon, sodium. However other elements like oxygen, aluminum, potassium, fluorine, zinc, chlorine were also found in the atmosphere.