Onam Bansal, Karamjit Singh and Darshan Singh
Abstract
The present study highlights the perturbations in aerosol characteristics from 1 to 30th April, 2020 over Patiala during lockdown period declared by Indian government due to COVID-19 pandemic. Averaged monthly value of AOD500 has minimum value of 0.321±0.070 in April-20 about 30 % less than in April month of previous years from 2015 to 2019. Similarly, averaged value of PM10 is found to be 44±18 ?g m-3 in April-20, which is ~ 50% lower than PM10 concentration in April month of previous years over Patiala. Angstrom Exponent remained low during lock down period indicating less emission of fine particles as anthropogenic activities almost ceased. These results show impact of lockdown on ambient air quality as well as degree of perturbation in Earthâs radiation budget over Patiala region.