Reactive chlorine-, sulfur-, and nitrogen-containing volatile organic compounds impact atmospheric chemistry in the megacity of Delhi during both clean and extremely polluted seasons

Mishra, Sachin; Sinha, Vinayak; Hakkim, Haseeb; Awasthi, Arpit; Ghude, Sachin D.; Soni, Vijay Kumar; Nigam, Narendra; Sinha, Baerbel; Rajeevan, Madhavan N.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13129-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13129-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13129-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 22

Research article

|

28 Nov 2024

Research article |

| 28 Nov 2024

Reactive chlorine-, sulfur-, and nitrogen-containing volatile organic compounds impact atmospheric chemistry in the megacity of Delhi during both clean and extremely polluted seasons

Sachin Mishra, Vinayak Sinha, Haseeb Hakkim, Arpit Awasthi, Sachin D. Ghude, Vijay Kumar Soni, Narendra Nigam, Baerbel Sinha, and Madhavan N. Rajeevan

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13129-2024-supplement

Data sets

VOCdataset_2022_MPMDelhi Vinayak Sinha and Baerbel Sinha https://doi.org/10.17632/pb6xs2fzwc.1

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

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Short summary

We quantified 111 gases using mass spectrometry to understand how seasonal and emission changes lead from clean air in the monsoon season to extremely polluted air in the post-monsoon season in Delhi. Averaged total mass concentrations (260 µg m^-3) were > 4 times in polluted periods, driven by biomass burning emissions and reduced atmospheric ventilation. Reactive gaseous nitrogen, chlorine, and sulfur compounds hitherto unreported from such a polluted environment were discovered.