Lidar observations of aerosol vertical distributions in the lower troposphere along with observations of horizontal and vertical winds from collocated UHF radar (Wind Profiler) over a tropical Indian station, Pune during the pre-monsoon season (March–May) of 2006 as part of an ISRO-GBP national campaign (ICARB) have been examined. Lidar vertical profiles showed high aerosol concentrations in the surface layers and a subsequent gradual decrease with height. Results showed the presence of an elevated stratified aerosol layer around 2000–3500m height which persisted throughout the months of March and April. Observed strong vertical gradients in both horizontal and vertical winds in the lower troposphere seem to be a possible cause for the formation of elevated aerosol layers. Further, high daytime temperatures accompanied by dry conditions at the surface help to enhance the aerosol loading in the lower layers over this location.

Carbon dioxide, water vapour, air temperature and wind measurements at 10 Hz sampling rate were carried out over the coast of Arabian Sea, Goa (15°21′N, 73° 51′E) in India. These observations were collected, in association with the surface layer turbulent parameters for the Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX). In the summer monsoon period, concentration of CO₂ was in the range of 550–790 mg m⁻³ whereas the water vapour was in the range of 17.5–24.5 g m⁻³. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis has been performed on these observations to investigate the spectral behaviour of CO₂ and water vapour. The relation between CO₂ and water vapour on various atmospheric scales has been proposed. CO₂ and water vapour observations confirmed the existence of periodicities of large (11, 8 days), meso (5 days) and micrometeorological (20 min) scales.

Thirty years radiosonde data (1971–2000) at 00 UTC for winter months over four major Indian metros, viz., Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai is analysed to study the trends and long term variations in ventilation coefficients and the consequences on the air quality due to these variations in the four metros. A decreasing trend in ventilation coefficient is observed in all the four metros during the 30 years period indicating increasing pollution potential and a degradation in the air quality over these urban centers. In Delhi, the ventilation coefficient decreased at the rate of 49 and 32 m²/s/year in the months of December and February, respectively during the 30-year period. In Mumbai, the average decrease in ventilation coefficient in winter months is about 15 m²/s/year whereas for Kolkata it is 14 and 17 m²/s/year in December and February, respectively. A decreasing trend in ventilation coefficient is observed in Chennai too although it is not significant. The decreasing ventilation coefficient increased the ground level pollution thereby deteriorating the air quality for the urban population. For Mumbai and Kolkata, decreasing mixing depths and decreasing wind speed contributed to the decreasing ventilation coefficient whereas for Delhi and Chennai decreasing wind speed was responsible for the decrease in ventilation coefficient. Further, the pollution potential was much higher in Delhi which is an inland station as compared to Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai which are coastal stations under the influence of marine environment. Compared to Delhi, the pollution potential over these three metros was lower as the prevailing sea-breeze helped in the dispersal of pollutants thereby reducing their ground level concentration.