Ambient air quality in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, during the pre-monsoon: concentrations and sources of particulate matter and trace gases
Authors: Islam Md. Robiul , Jayarathne Thilina , Simpson Isobel J. , Werden Benjamin , Maben John , Gilbert Ashley , Praveen Puppala S. , Adhikari Sagar , Panday Arnico K. , Rupakheti Maheswar , Blake Donald R. , Yokelson Robert J. , DeCarlo Peter F. , Keene William C. , Stone Elizabeth A. 
Published: March 2020

Abstract. The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is a bowl-shaped urban basin that experiences severe air pollution that poses health risks to its 3.5 million inhabitants.
As part of the Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment
(NAMaSTE), ambient air quality in the Kathmandu Valley was investigated from
11 to 24 April 2015, during the pre-monsoon season. Ambient concentrations
of fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10,
respectively), online PM1, inorganic trace gases (NH3, HNO3,
SO2, and HCl), and carbon-containing gases (CO2, CO, CH4, and
93 non-methane volatile organic compounds; NMVOCs) were quantified at a
semi-urban location near the center of the valley. Concentrations and ratios
of NMVOC indicated origins primarily from poorly maintained vehicle
emissions, biomass burning, and solvent/gasoline evaporation. During those
2 weeks, daily average PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 30 to 207 µg m−3, which exceeded the World Health Organization 24 h
guideline by factors of 1.2 to 8.3. On average, the non-water mass of
PM2.5 was composed of organic matter (48 %), elemental carbon
(13 %), sulfate (16 %), nitrate (4 %), ammonium (9 %), chloride
(2 %), calcium (1 %), magnesium (0.05 %), and potassium (1 %). Large
diurnal variability in temperature and relative humidity drove corresponding
variability in aerosol liquid water content, the gas–aerosol phase
partitioning of NH3, HNO3, and HCl, and aerosol solution pH. The
observed levels of gas-phase halogens suggest that multiphase
halogen-radical chemistry involving both Cl and Br impacted regional air
quality. To gain insight into the origins of organic carbon (OC), molecular
markers for primary and secondary sources were quantified. Levoglucosan
(averaging 1230±1154 ng m−3), 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (0.8±0.6 ng m−3), cholesterol (2.9±6.6 ng m−3), stigmastanol (1.0
±0.8 ng m−3), and cis-pinonic acid (4.5±1.9 ng m−3)
indicate contributions from biomass burning, garbage burning, food cooking,
cow dung burning, and monoterpene secondary organic aerosol, respectively.
Drawing on source profiles developed in NAMaSTE, chemical mass balance (CMB)
source apportionment modeling was used to estimate contributions to OC from
major primary sources including garbage burning (18±5 %), biomass
burning (17±10 %) inclusive of open burning and biomass-fueled
cooking stoves, and internal-combustion (gasoline and diesel) engines (18±9 %). Model sensitivity tests with newly developed source profiles
indicated contributions from biomass burning within a factor of 2 of
previous estimates but greater contributions from garbage burning
(up to three times), indicating large potential impacts of garbage burning
on regional air quality and the need for further evaluation of this source.
Contributions of secondary organic carbon (SOC) to PM2.5 OC included
those originating from anthropogenic precursors such as naphthalene (10±4 %) and methylnaphthalene (0.3±0.1 %) and biogenic
precursors for monoterpenes (0.13±0.07 %) and sesquiterpenes (5±2 %). An average of 25 % of the PM2.5 OC was unapportioned,
indicating the presence of additional sources (e.g., evaporative and/or
industrial emissions such as brick kilns, food cooking, and other types of
SOC) and/or underestimation of the contributions from the identified source
types. The source apportionment results indicate that anthropogenic
combustion sources (including biomass burning, garbage burning, and
fossil fuel combustion) were the greatest contributors to PM2.5 and, as
such, should be considered primary targets for controlling ambient PM
pollution.