• Varun Sheel

Articles written in Journal of Earth System Science

• Regional biomass burning trends in India: Analysis of satellite fire data

The results based on the analysis of satellite fire counts detected by the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) sensors over different regions of India during 1998–2009 have been presented. Generally, the activities of open biomass burning show large spatial and temporal variations in India. The highest and lowest values of monthly fire counts were detected during the periods of March–May and July–September, respectively over different regions of India. The activities of biomass burning in two central states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra were the highest and together accounted for about 25–45% of total annual fire counts detected over India during the study period. However, in opposite phases, the rainfall and fire count data show strong seasonal variation. In addition to large regional and seasonal variations, the fire data also show significant year-to-year variation. The higher annual fire counts exceeding the mean of entire period by about 16% and 43% were detected during the two periods of 1998–2000 and 2007–2009, respectively. We have estimated normalized anomaly of annual fire count data which shows large positive departures from long-term mean for the years 1999, 2007, 2008 and 2009, while negative departures for the years 2002, 2003 and 2005. Consistently, the mixing ratio of carbon monoxide (CO) typical peaks during winter but extended to pre-monsoon season during extensive fire years. The annual data over the entire region of India show lesser positive trend of about 3% yr−1. The inter-annual variation of fire count over entire India follows the trend in the ENSO Precipitation Index (ESPI) but shows opposite trend to the multivariate ENSO Index (MEI).

• The influence of local meteorology and convection on carbon monoxide distribution over Chennai

The influence of local meteorology and convection activities on the vertical distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) over Chennai in southern India was investigated by analysing the measurements of ozone aboard airbus in-service aircraft observations during the years 2012–2013. The seasonal variation of CO in the free troposphere was observed to be different and less pronounced than that in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The near surface mixing ratio of CO was the highest (190 $\pm$ 68 ppbv) during winter, while enhanced values (117 $\pm$ 11 ppbv) in the free troposphere were observed during post-monsoon. The mixing ratios were the lowest throughout the troposphere during the monsoon. In the PBL, the mixing ratios of CO showed a decline with an increase in wind speed and were the highest (>200 ppbv) under stagnant conditions (1-2 m s$^{-1}$) during winter. The higher CO in the lower free troposphere during the pre-monsoon period is attributed to the stronger biomass burning emissions. In the middle–upper troposphere, higher levels of CO during post-monsoon are due to the enhanced vertical mixing of regional emissions associated with weaker wind shears and frequent convection activities. Overall, the contrasting effects of stronger CO emissions can be observed in winter/pre-monsoon, while the efficient vertical mixing during the monsoon/post-monsoon season governs the observed seasonality of CO. The model for ozone and related chemical tracers, version 4 (MOZART-4) provides a reasonable representation of the convection effect on the CO mixing ratio. This study highlights a need to conduct more observations, especially of aircraft-borne instruments, to understand the effects of regional-scale emissions and dynamics in the middle–upper tropospheric chemistry over South Asia.

• Retrieval of Martian ozone and dust from SPICAM spectrometer for MY27–MY28

Ozone (O$_{3}$) is important in the stabilisation of CO$_{2}$ in the Martian atmosphere and thus it is important to study the spatio-temporal variability of O$_{3}$. We retrieve two years of total columnar O$_{3}$ from raw spectral data provided by the SPectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM) instrument aboard the Mars Express. The seasonal variability is studied in tropical, mid- and high latitudes and is compared with simulations by a photochemical coupled general circulation model (GCM). The high latitudes exhibit the largest seasonal variations in O$_{3}$, with a winter high and a summer low and a comparison with GCM results is good in general. We have studied the correlation of O$_{3}$ with dust, retrieved simultaneously from SPICAM observations. In southern tropical latitudes, the columnar O$_{3}$ is seen to increase during a global dust storm year (Martian year (MY) 28) compared to the O$_{3}$ column values during a year without global dust storm (MY27), although the water vapour column between these years remains unchanged. This indicates the radiative impact of dust on O$_{3}$ and its retrieval. We also study the ozone–carbon monoxide correlation as a tracer of dynamics. The dynamical contribution to the O$_{3}$ column is found to be the highest during winter over the southern polar region.

• # Journal of Earth System Science

Current Issue
Volume 128 | Issue 8
December 2019

• # Editorial Note on Continuous Article Publication

Posted on July 25, 2019