Govt to study 'soot clouds' of unknown origin over India

India has launched a first of its kind study to ascertain the contribution of soot (black carbon) towards global warming, trying to ‘break into’ the world of ecological research dominated by Western countries.

The project, that will see the addition of 24 observatories to the existing 36 carbon monitoring centres, will try to identify the exact sources of particulate carbon, one of the major causes of respiratory illnesses and a contributing factor for cancer and heart disease.

The Rs200-crore research project, which is the brain-child of environment minister Jairam Ramesh, may lead to tougher laws on the use of diesel and coal in transportation and power generation.

Early indications on the distribution of soot particles over India’s atmosphere have been somewhat puzzling, according to J Srinivasan, head of the climate change centre at Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Science.

According to research, Srinivasan pointed out, unexpectedly large amounts of aerosols -- suspended solid particles -- have been found at high altitudes over the Indian landmass. Unidentified aerosols clouds have been found above normal clouds over several parts of India, particularly the Centre, according to studies by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Srinivasan said.

The normal level of soot in the air near the ground is around 2-4 micrograms per cubic metre of air -- found in cities such as Bangalore and Chennai. “However, when we sent up a research balloon into the sky over Hyderabad, we ran into an area which had extremely high deposits of black carbon, as much as 14 micrograms per cubic metre,” he said, adding that such a high concentration of soot is likely to be having a substantial impact on India’s climate.

He was also certain that the soot did not come from the city of Hyderabad itself as the ground level composition was only 2-4 micrograms.

“It has to be some other source, possibly aircrafts,” he said, adding that ship-based measurements by ISRO too had revealed several ‘aerosol clouds’ at high altitudes over the Indian ocean and other places.

“If we confirm the findings, we can take mitigative action as such high deposits may affect growth of crops and alter the temperature at ground levels,” he said.

Delhi and Kanpur have the highest level of soot in close-to-the-ground atmosphere, ranging from around 5 to 15 micrograms on good days to as much as 100 micrograms on bad days, according to scientists.