Assessment of Ambient Air Quality of a College Campus

Abstract

This present study analyzes the air quality of college campus, located in Ahmedabad, using the measurements of Particulate Matter (PM), Black Carbon (BC) and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and, for the year 2017 & 2018 when the college was not functional. The PM data analysis showed clear diurnal cycles at the study site. Due to poor dispersion conditions and suspension of fine particles in the ambient air for longer hours, the values obtained for PM10 is 173.02 μg/m3 and for PM2.5 is 75.74 μg/m3 which is almost double than the permissible limits by National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The BC concentration shows diurnal variation with concentration 9.97μg/m3 and 24.34μg/m3 during morning and night respectively. The AOD angstrom characteristic shows the dominance of coarser particles with hazy condition. This analysis pointed that the air quality of our campus is better compared to city, but still it is not within the permissible limits.