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At least 73 records · Page 4

Variability and Trends of Aerosol Properties over Kanpur, Northern India using AERONET Data (2001-10)

Natural and anthropogenic aerosols over northern India play an important role in influencing the regional radiation budget, causing climate implications to the overall hydrological cycle of South Asia. In the context of regional climate change and air quality, we discuss aerosol loading variability and trends at Kanpur AERONET station located in the central part of the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), during the last decade (2001-10). Ground-based radiometric measurements show an overall increase in column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) on a yearly basis. This upward trend is mainly due to a sustained increase in the seasonal/monthly averaged AOD during the winter (Dec-Feb) and post-monsoon (Oct-Nov) seasons (dominated by anthropogenic emissions). In contrast, a neutral to weak declining trend is observed during late pre-monsoon (Mar-May) and monsoon (Jun-Sep) months, mainly influenced by inter-annual variations of dust outbreaks. A general decrease in coarse-mode aerosols associated with variable dust activity is observed, whereas the statistically significant increasing post-monsoon/winter AOD is reflected in a shift of the columnar size distribution towards relatively larger particles in the accumulation mode. Overall, the present study provides an insight into the pronounced seasonal behavior in aerosol loading trends and, in general, is in agreement with that associating the findings with those recently reported by satellite observations (MODIS and MISR) over northern India. Our results further suggest that anthropogenic emissions (due mainly to fossil-fuel and biomass combustion) over the IGP have continued to increase in the last decade.

AERONET↗

Mapping 2000 2010 Impervious Surface Change in India Using Global Land Survey Landsat Data

Understanding and monitoring the environmental impacts of global urbanization requires better urban datasets. Continuous field impervious surface change (ISC) mapping using Landsat data is an effective way to quantify spatiotemporal dynamics of urbanization. It is well acknowledged that Landsat-based estimation of impervious surface is subject to seasonal and phenological variations. The overall goal of this paper is to map 200-02010 ISC for India using Global Land Survey datasets and training data only available for 2010. To this end, a method was developed that could transfer the regression tree model developed for mapping 2010 impervious surface to 2000 using an iterative training and prediction (ITP) approach An independent validation dataset was also developed using Google Earth imagery. Based on the reference ISC from the validation dataset, the RMSE of predicted ISC was estimated to be 18.4%. At 95% confidence, the total estimated ISC for India between 2000 and 2010 is 2274.62 +/- 7.84 sq km.

Wang, Panshi↗

Agricultural Burning and Air Quality over Northern India: A Synergistic Analysis Using NASA's A-Train Satellite Data and Ground Measurements

In the recent years, New Delhi, the capital city of India, has ranked among the most polluted cities in the world regarding its air quality related to the submicron Particulate Matter (PM(sub 2.5)). Using NASA's A-train satellite data (MODIS, OMI, and CALIOP), ground-level PM2.5 measured in New Delhi (2013-2016), and back-trajectory calculations, we show that the PM(sub 2.5). over New Delhi is strongly affected by the agricultural fires in the northwestern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana during the post-monsoon season (October and November). The mass concentration of PM2.5 escalates from ~50 μg m(exp -3) measured prior to the onset of residue burning in early October to as high as 300 μg m(exp -3) (24-hour averaged, 7- day running mean) during the peak burning period in early November. A linear regression analysis reveals that the variations in PM(sub 2.5) over New Delhi can be attributed to the concurrent changes in the satellite retrievals of fire counts and aerosols over the crop burning area. The back-trajectory analysis shows that most clusters (> 80%) of the northwesterly flow near the ground intercepted the crop burning region before arriving at the receptor location in New Delhi; this further corroborates the transport patterns inferred from the satellite data. A 15-year long satellite record (2002-2016) reveals an increasing trend in agricultural fires (~617 per year) and aerosol loading (0.031 and 0.04 per year in aerosol optical depth and UV aerosol index) in November. Increasing levels of crop residue burning and resulting particulate matter pollution at an alarming rate over northern India is a pressing concern demanding corrective measures to substantially reduce or completely diminish the crop burning through an effective residue management system.

Crop Residue Fires↗

Ceramic Industry at Morbi as a Large Source of SO2 Emissions in India

Observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), onboard the NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite, reveal a large SO2 "hotspot" over Morbi, Gujarat, India, while the available emissions inventories do not report any major sources in this region. There are no industries that are typically associated with the elevated SO2 such as large power plants, smelters, or oil refineries in the Morbi region. Our analysis shows that the elevated SO2 source is attributed to the ceramic industries in an area of ~7 × 7 km2 near the city. OMI-estimated SO2 emissions from the Morbi ceramic industries have been near or above 100 kt y1 since 2009, which are similar to emission levels from larger Indian oil refineries (such as Essar and Jamnagar) and power stations (such as Mundra Thermal Power Station and Ultra Mega Power Plant) located in Gujarat, India. According to OMI measurements, the SO2 emissions from the Morbi ceramic industries are presently five times higher than they were in 2005. This study demonstrates that in the absence of any other information about SO2 emissions from the ceramic industry, these satellite-based estimates can fill the gap in emission inventories in a timely fashion.

S K Kharol↗

Groundwater Variability Across India, Under Contrasting Human and Natural Conditions

Characterizing local to regional scale water cycles and water resources will be crucial for achieving the United Nations' water-related Sustainable Developmental Goals. However, quantification and understanding of groundwater extraction across scales have been hampered by inadequate water usage reporting and limited information on irrigation practices. Here we analyze observations from ∼15,000 groundwater monitoring wells and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites together with irrigation, agricultural, and meteorological datasets to show how drought-induced coupling between natural and anthropogenic groundwater storage variations has caused sustainability challenges in India, the world's biggest consumer of groundwater for irrigation. Notably, the mechanisms and consequences of such coupling differ significantly depending on aquifer types. In Andhra Pradesh's hard rock aquifer, groundwater declines have been limited, despite the nearly constant water scarcity that its farmers face. Moreover, its free farm power policy involves an annual irrigation energy consumption of 26 billion kWh that costs US$ 2.5 billion, possibly unparalleled compared to any other part of the world of similar size (0.27 million km2). In West Bengal's highly permeable alluvial aquifer, the water table is declining rapidly (15 cm/yr) due to a policy that encourages irrigation. Situated between these two states, Odisha's aquifer shows substantial resilience to drought, owing to the state's relatively natural landscape and forest restoration policy. The findings of this study provide new insights to understand the divergent aspects of groundwater irrigation in north versus south India, which can enable development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to avert the looming water crisis.

Dileep K Panda↗

Investigating Drivers of Particulate Matter Pollution Over India and the Implications for Radiative Forcing With GEOS-Chem-TOMAS15

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations in India frequently exceed 100 μg/m 3 during fall and winter pollution episodes. We use the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model with the TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional microphysics scheme with 15 size bins (TOMAS15) to assess PM 2.5 composition and impacts on radiation and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) during pollution episodes as compared to the seasonal (October-December) average. We conduct high resolution (0.25° × 0.3125°) nested-domain simulations over India for short-duration, high-PM2.5 episodes in the fall of 2015 and 2017. The simulations capture the magnitude and spatial patterns of pollution episodes measured by surface monitors (r PM2.5 = 0.69) although aerosol optical depth is underestimated. During the episodes, near-surface organic matter (OM), black carbon (BC), and secondary inorganic aerosol concentrations increase from seasonal averages by up to 36, 7, and 7 μg/m 3 , respectively. Episodic aerosol increases enhance cooling by lowering the top-of-atmosphere clear-sky direct radiative effect (DRE TOA ) during the 2015 episode (−6 W/m 2 ), with a smaller impact during the 2017 episode (−1 W/m 2 ). Differences in DRE TOA reflect larger increases in scattering aerosols in the column during the 2015 episode (+17 mg/m 2 ) than in 2017 (+13 mg/m 2 ), while absorbing aerosol column enhancements are smaller (+3 mg/m2) in both years. Changes in shortwave radiation at the surface (SW sfc ) are spatially similar to DRE TOA and mostly negative during both episodes. CCN enhancements (0.2% supersaturation) during these episodes occur across the western Indo-Gangetic Plain, coincident with higher PM 2.5 concentrations. Changes in DRE TOA , SW sfc , and CCN during high-PM 2.5 episodes may have implications for crops, the hydrologic cycle, and surface temperature.

PM2.5↗

Empirical Assessment of the Appliance-Level Load Shape and Demand Response Potential in India

Over the next 15 years, electricity demand from the key residential and commercial appliances is projected to be nearly 300 GW or ~65% of India’s total peak demand. The objective of this study is to characterize appliance level demand and temporal variation, and identify the overall DR potential in India. We use Bangalore Electricity Supply Company territory (peak load of 3,505 MW in 2016) as a case study, using actual one-minute resolution load data for 2,979 distribution feeders and a detailed load survey. Our results show that agricultural pumping and space cooling (residential, commercial, and industrial) are the main contributors to the peak demand – with shares of 23-27% and 14-23%, respectively. Both sectors have about 1,000 MW of DR potential – agricultural pumps offering load shifting service while space cooling offering shimmy service that is capable of dynamically adjusting to react to short-run ramps and grid disturbances. Residential electric water heaters contribute nearly 18% of the winter morning peak demand and can also offer about 500 MW in shimmy service. Overall, we find that shifting and shimmy services offer 1,199 MW and 1,511 MW total DR potential, respectively.

demand response↗

Win-win transportation strategies for India: Linking air pollution and climate mitigation

Here, this article analyzes road transport in India to explore linkages between air pollution and climate change policies in the transportation sector. Five teams modeled five policy scenarios – fuel efficiency, electrification, alternative fuels, modal shifts, and moderation in transport demand – to explore which policy brings the largest synergetic effects in reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) emissions. The teams also modeled the comprehensive scenario which included policy measures from individual scenarios. The paper concludes that all of the measures provide strong co-benefits in reducing air pollutant and CO 2 emissions. The modeling results show that increased energy efficiency of passenger and freight vehicles has the largest protentional for reducing both CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions. It is possible to reach even a larger reduction of air pollutants and CO 2 emissions by combining several policy measures in the comprehensive scenario.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Lockdown impacts on residential electricity demand in India: A data-driven and non-intrusive load monitoring study using Gaussian mixture models

This study evaluates the effect of complete nationwide lockdown in 2020 on residential electricity demand across 13 Indian cities and the role of digitalisation using a public smart meter dataset. We undertake a data-driven approach to explore the energy impacts of work-from-home norms across five dwelling typologies. Our methodology includes climate correction, dimensionality reduction and machine learning-based clustering using Gaussian Mixture Models of daily load curves. Results show that during the lockdown, maximum daily peak demand increased by 150-200% as compared to 2018 and 2019 levels for one room-units (RM1), one bedroom-units (BR1) and two bedroom-units (BR2) which are typical for low- and middle-income families. While the upper-middle- and higher-income dwelling units (i.e., three (3BR) and more-than-three bedroom-units (M3BR)) saw night-time demand rise by almost 44% in 2020, as compared to 2018 and 2019 levels. Our results also showed that new peak demand emerged for the lockdown period for RM1, BR1 and BR2 dwelling typologies. We found that the lack of supporting socioeconomic and climatic data can restrict a comprehensive analysis of demand shocks using similar public datasets, which informed policy implications for India's digitalisation. We further emphasised improving the data quality and reliability for effective data-centric policymaking.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Geographic source attribution of honey by strontium isotope analyses: Latvia and India measurements compared to model predictions in a feasibility study

Strontium isotope ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) can be used to determine the geographic origin of agricultural products. Here, in this study, we measured the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of honey samples from Richland, WA, USA, Latvia, and India, and compared the results to published 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from surrounding areas and values predicted based upon a random forest isoscape model (Bataille et al., 2020). While the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of the honey samples compared well with previously published data, the model did not accurately predict the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of the honey samples, demonstrating that further refinement of the model would be beneficial. Because Sr cycling in terrestrial ecosystems is complex, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of honey is likely to reflect several sources (e.g., nectar, surface water, dust) and may change over time. In order to accurately predict the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of honey, models must consider local geology, ecology, and bee behavior. Additional research examining how Sr is incorporated into honey is needed to inform models.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Policy and Regulatory Environment for Utility-Scale Energy Storage: India

This report is part of a series investigating the potential for utility-scale energy storage in South Asia. The first part of the work is focused on opportunities and barriers for energy storage within existing policy and regulatory frameworks in the region. This report applies the previously-developed Energy Storage Readiness Assessment to evaluate the policy and regulatory environment for energy storage in India. Forthcoming reports will expand this analysis to other countries in South Asia. These evaluations are designed to provide insights on the opportunities and barriers for energy storage growth and deployment in each country. The second part of this work consists of techno-economic analysis to understand the drivers of energy storage investments in South Asia. Using NREL’s power system planning and operational models of South Asia, this analysis will identify potential storage applications and growth under various cost, policy, and demand growth scenarios. In addition, the regulatory and policy barriers and incentive mechanisms identified in the first task will be incorporated into the modeling task to understand their impact on energy storage deployment and operation. Together these studies will inform the applications and value of energy storage on South Asia power systems and policy and regulatory pathways to realize this value.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Supporting Resource Adequacy via the ReEDS-India Model [Slides]

ReEDS-India is an open-access tool for mid- and long-term capacity expansion modeling that finds the mix of generation, transmission, and storage technologies that meet the anticipated requirements of the electric sector at least cost.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

India Power Sector Reliability Analysis [Slides]

The objective of the study is to assess pathways for India to achieve its 2070 power sector goals reliably and cost-effectively by considering various supply- and demand-side factors to support planning by national stakeholders including the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

08 HYDROGEN↗

Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Maize Farms and Farm Household Incomes in South India: A Case Study from Tamil Nadu: Chapter - 9

South India is characterized by a wide variety of landscapes, soils and climatic zones. It is comprised of tropical, semi-arid, humid-moist, and high-altitude environments, which support a diversity of agricultural systems. Our study focused on the state of Tamil Nadu, which is characterized by a generally tropical climate, and receive rainfall during both the southwest monsoon season (SWM, June to September) and the northeast monsoon (NEM, September to December). Agriculture continues to be an important sector in the state economy, as more than 56 of the people depend on agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood. Analysis of land-use patterns in Tamil Nadu reveals that in the past decade there has been a reduction in net sown area and current fallow, while the share of cultivable wastelands has increased. The area under cereals, pulses, and oilseeds had marginally declined, although area under commercial crops like turmeric, sugar-cane, banana, fruits, and vegetables has shown an increasing trend. The production performance of major crops like cereals, pulses, and oilseeds has not shown any significant increase. Demand and supply gap of important crops in Tamil Nadu for the year 2010 indicates that the state is lagging far behind in the production of various crops.

agriculture↗

Spatio-Temporal Variability of Groundwater Storage in India

Groundwater level measurements from 3907 monitoring wells, distributed within 22 major river basins of India, are assessed to characterize their spatial and temporal variability. Ground water storage (GWS) anomalies (relative to the long-term mean) exhibit strong seasonality, with annual maxima observed during the monsoon season and minima during pre-monsoon season. Spatial variability of GWS anomalies increases with the extent of measurements, following the power law relationship, i.e., log-(spatial variability) is linearly dependent on log-(spatial extent).In addition, the impact of well spacing on spatial variability and the power law relationship is investigated. We found that the mean GWS anomaly sampled at a 0.25 degree grid scale closes to unweighted average over all wells. The absolute error corresponding to each basin grows with increasing scale, i.e., from 0.25 degree to 1 degree. It was observed that small changes in extent could create very large changes in spatial variability at large grid scales. Spatial variability of GWS anomaly has been found to vary with climatic conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the effects of well spacing on groundwater spatial variability. The results may be useful for interpreting large scale groundwater variations from unevenly spaced or sparse groundwater well observations or for siting and prioritizing wells in a network for groundwater management. The output of this study could be used to maintain a cost effective groundwater monitoring network in the study region and the approach can also be used in other parts of the globe.

Groundwater monitoring↗

India's Action Plan for Power Sector Decarbonisation

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) on Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors was delivered to energy ministers and presented at CEM13 in the United States in September 2022. In light of these lessons learned and discussed at CEM13, several countries signaled intent to develop Action Plans for power sector decarbonization that will be presented at CEM14 in India. These action plans complement but are differentiated from other international power sector initiatives such as the Breakthrough Agenda whose broad purpose is to raise collective ambition and the Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium whose goals are to convene power system operators to accelerate research innovations and foster peer learning. These action plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership (21CPP) and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are instead intended to focus on implementation actions given each country's existing power sector goals and activities and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. These action plans are voluntary, developed by each country individually, and can be viewed as a living document that is subject to change.

decarbonization↗