CWE/1592/2020 Current World Environment 0973-4929 2320-8031 Enviro Research Publishers CWE--70-00 分析基于Exceedanc环境空气质量e Factor and Air Quality Index for Siliguri City, West Bengal 2 , Department of Geography, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Coochbehar, 736101, India. 10.12944/CWE.15.2.11 Volume 15 Volume 15 235-245 Abstract

Bad air is one of the key concerns for most of the urban centres today, and Siliguri is no exceptions to this.  In order to assess the air quality of Siliguri, Exceedance factor (EF) method was applied based on the average annual concentration of the pollutants named as; NO2, SO2, PM2.5 and PM10 and it is found that PM2.5 and PM10 are the major pollutants that pose a severe threat for the city. After applying the EF method, it is found that the values of PM2.5 was between moderate to high pollution level and for PM10 it falls under high to critical pollution level. On the other hand, the concentration of NO2 and SO2 falls under moderate to low pollution level. Through trend analysis of the various pollutants, it is found that their concentration was varying in nature. In case of PM10, the trend shows high concentration which exceeds national standard; whereas PM2.5 shows its concentration near towards violating the national standard soon if not checked. In contrast, trends of NO2 and SO2 were recorded lower than the national standard. The present situation of ambient air of Siliguri was analyzed based on Air Quality Index which reveals that air quality of the city can be classified into two seasons, i.e. clean air period (from April to October) and polluted period (from November to March). Lastly, the annual trends of PM2.5 and PM10 were constructed as they are the major pollutants, and it shows their skewed nature during winter months which results in smog episodes. It unveils how critical the situation of air quality of Siliguri became especially during winter months which seek immediate attention. Thus the study tries to present a vivid scenario about the present air quality of Siliguri, which concludes with some of the suggestions to restrain the air quality.

Keywords Air Quality Index (AQI) Exceedance Factor National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) Particulate Matter 2.5 Particulate Matter 10 Pollutants Smog Episode