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Environmental Monitoring
Name- Sachin Bhardwaj (AMS Bhuntar)
IMTC Batch No. -10
1) What are the major components of clean, dry air?
Answer: Components of clean dry air are:
Water vapour: We know that water present in oceans and rivers evaporates during summer
and escapes into the air. Thus water vapour is one of the components of the air. It occupies
very less percentage of earth’s atmosphere.
Oxygen: Oxygen is one of the major components of air around us. Air comprises almost 21%
oxygen (It support combustion).
Nitrogen: Nitrogen occupies nearly 78% of earth’s atmosphere and is the most abundant gas
on our planet.
Carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is mainly produced due to respiration by plants and animals
or burning of fuel. It occupies 0.038% of the earth’s atmosphere. Its occupancy keeps on
changing from one place to another in our atmosphere.
Other components of dry air is Argon(0.934%), Neon(0.00182%), Methane(0.00015%),
Helium(0.000524%), Krypton(0.000114%), Hydrogen(0.00005%), dust and smoke.
2) List and briefly describe the four sphere that constitute our environment.
Answer:
The four sphere that constitute our environment are:
1) The Lithosphere
The lithosphere, sometimes called the geosphere, refers to all of the rocks of the earth. It includes the
planet's mantle and crust, the two outermost layers. The actual thickness of the lithosphere varies
considerably and can range from roughly 40 km to 280 km.
The lithosphere is divided into 15 tectonic plates that fit together around the earth like a jagged puzzle:
African, Antarctic, Arabian, Australian, Caribbean, Cocos, Eurasian, Indian, Juan de Fuca, Nazca, North
American, Pacific, Philippine, Scotia and South American. These plates aren't fixed; they're slowly
moving. The friction created when these tectonic plates push against one another cause’s earthquakes,
volcanoes and the formation of mountains and ocean trenches.
2) The Hydrosphere The hydrosphere is composed of all of the water on or near the planet's surface. This
includes oceans, rivers, and lakes, as well as underground aquifers and the moisture in the atmosphere.
More than 97 percent of the earth's water is found in its oceans. The remainder is fresh water, two-
thirds of which is frozen within the earth's Polar Regions and mountain snowpack. It's interesting to
note that even though water covers the majority of the planet's surface, water accounts for a mere
0.023 percent of the earth's total mass.
3) The Biosphere The biosphere is composed of all living organisms: plants, animals and one-celled
organisms alike. Most of the planet's terrestrial life is found in a zone that stretches from 3 meters
below ground to 30 meters above it. In the oceans and seas, most aquatic life inhabits a zone that
stretches from the surface to about 200 meters below. But some creatures can live far outside of these
ranges: some birds are known to fly as high as 8 kilometers above the earth, while some fish have been
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found as deep as 8 kilometres beneath the ocean surface. Microorganisms are known to survive well
beyond even these ranges.
4) The Atmosphere The atmosphere is the body of gasses that surrounds our planet, held in place by
earth's gravity. Most of our atmosphere is located close to the earth's surface where it is most dense.
The air of our planet is 79 percent nitrogen and just under 21 percent oxygen; the small amount
remaining is composed of argon, carbon dioxide, and other trace gasses. The atmosphere itself rises to
about 10,000 km in height and is divided into four zones. The troposphere, where about three-quarters
of all atmospheric mass can be found, stretches from about 6 km above the earth's surface to 20 km.
beyond this lies the stratosphere, which rises to 50 km above the planet. Next comes the mesosphere,
which extends to about 85 km above earth's surface. The thermosphere rises to about 690 km above
the earth, then finally the exosphere. Beyond the exosphere lies outer space.
a) Why is ozone important to life on earth?
b) What are CFCs, and what is their connection to ozone?
Answer:
a) Most ozone resides in the stratosphere (a layer of the atmosphere between 10 and 40
km above us), where it acts as a shield to protect Earth's surface from the sun's
harmful ultraviolet radiation. With a weakening of this shield, we would be more
susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts and impaired immune systems.
b) Chlorofluorocarbon are anthropogenic compounds containing fluorine, carbon, and
chlorine atoms, and are classified as halocarbons. These are Non-flammable, tasteless,
odourless and can be used as refrigerants, cleaning agents, foaming agents and
propellants for aerosol sprays. They have a life time of 20 to 100 years.
CFCs contribute to the depletion of ozone layer, as they are major source of inorganic
chlorine in the stratosphere.
Catalytic action of chlorine, from industrially manufactured chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), in depleting stratospheric ozone has become great concern.
CFCs were spreading globally, due to inertness, having expected lifetime times ranging
to several hundred years in troposphere. Such long-lived compounds eventually find
way into stratosphere where, about 20 km altitudes, they absorb UV radiation in
wavelength interval 0.19–0.22 µm and photo dissociate.

𝐶𝐹𝐶𝑙3 + ℎ𝑣 → 𝐶𝐹𝐶𝑙2 + 𝐶𝑙
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝐹2 𝐶𝑙2 + ℎ𝑣 → 𝐶𝐹2 𝐶𝑙 + 𝐶𝑙

The chlorine atom released by these reactions can serve as the catalyst in cycle,
thereby destroying odd oxygen in the cycle

𝐶𝑙 + 𝑂3 → 𝐶𝑙𝑂 + 𝑂2
𝐶𝑙𝑂 + 𝑂 → 𝐶𝑙 + 𝑂2
𝑵𝒆𝒕: 𝑶𝟑 + 𝑶 → 𝟐𝑶𝟐
3) Why does the temperature increase in stratosphere?
Answer: Unlike the Troposphere the Stratosphere observes temperature inversion, meaning
the temperature increases with increase in altitude. There are some primary and auxiliary
contributors to this:
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The Stratosphere is home to the unstable Tri-Oxygen, popularly known as Ozone.
Short wave UV rays from sun react with oxygen molecules to continuously form ozone with
heat as the by-product. Again Ozone disintegrates under UV radiation, upon absorption
(because of its low stability). And heating up the layers in the process. From around 12 km
upward the concentration of Ozone rises steadily till about 43 km, where it is most abundant.
So this explains the constant rise in temperature.

Ozone also is a greenhouse contributor and absorbs the infrared radiation reflected off of
earth's surface, again adding to the heat.

4) How does the Earth atmosphere act as ‘Greenhouse’?

Answer:
Cloudless air is transparent to incoming shortwave radiation and hence it transmits to Earth’s
surface. Whereas, a significant fraction of the longwave radiation emitted by Earth’s land-sea
surface is absorbed by water vapour, carbon dioxide and other trace gases in the atmosphere.
This energy heats the air and increases the rate at which it radiates energy, both out to space
and back toward the earth’s surface. This heats up the surface resulting in greater emissions
from the surface. This keeps Earth’s average temperature 33 ℃ warmer than it would
otherwise be. This natural phenomena was named the greenhouse because it was once
thought that greenhouses were heated in similar manner.
Glass in the Greenhouse allows shortwave radiation to enter and be absorbed by the objects
inside. These objects in turn radiate energy but at longer wavelengths to which glass is
opaque. The heat therefore is “trapped” in the greenhouse.
5) What is the difference between a primary and a secondary pollutant?
Answer:
Pollutants can be grouped into two categories:
a) Primary Pollutants: These are the pollutants which are emitted directly from
identifiable sources. They pollute the air immediately upon being emitted. Examples
are particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulphur oxide.
b) Secondary Pollutants: These are produced in the atmosphere wen certain chemical
reactions take place among primary pollutants. The two examples are ozone and
secondary organic aerosol (haze).

*Secondary pollutants are harder to control because they have different ways of
synthesizing and the formation are not well understood. They form naturally in the
environment and cause problems like photochemical smog.

6) Air pollution problems are more acute when the air is weak/calm. Why?
Answer:
The stronger the wind, the more turbulent the air. Thus, strong winds mix polluted air more
rapidly with the surrounding air thereby causing pollution to be more dilute.
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When winds are light, there is little turbulence and concentration of pollutants remain high.
7) How do temperature inversion impact air pollution?
Answer:
Temperature inversions – Warm air overlying cooler air acts as a lid and prevents upward
movement, leaving the pollutants trapped in relatively narrow zone near the ground. Hence,
increasing the concentration of pollutants near the ground.
8) During which part of the day ozone formation is at its peak?
Answer: Majority of tropospheric ozone formed when ozone precursors (NOx, CO, VOCs)
react in the presence of sunlight that arise from a wide range of natural and man-made
sources.
Since, the formation of ozone take place in the presence of sunlight, it will be at peak when
the sunlight that falls on the surface is at its peak.
Diurnal Variation of Ozone formation can be observed from the below graph:

It can be seen that the formation is at its peak between 12 noon and 4 pm in the evening.
9)

a) Positive net radiation at the top of atmosphere results in WARMING.

b) Negative net radiation at the top of atmosphere results in COOLING.
𝑅𝑛 = 𝑆𝑛 – 𝐿𝑢
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑅𝑛 = 𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑆𝑛 = 𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,
𝐿𝑢 = 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
If Rn is positive, Sn is greater than Lu, results in WARMING If Rn is negative, Sn is lesser
than Lu, results in COOLING

10) What is air Quality index? If AQI is 401-500, it means _______.

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Answer: AQI can be considered as a yardstick that runs from 0 to 500. The higher
the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern. For
example, an AQI value of 50 or below represents good air quality, while an AQI value over 300
represents hazardous air quality.
AQI value between 401-500 means the air quality is severe. Colour code for this range of AQI
is Maroon.
11)
a) PM10 stands for ‘inhalable coarse particles’ that are larger than 2.5 𝝁𝒎 and smaller
than 10𝝁𝒎.
b) PM2.5 stands for “fine particles” that are 𝟐. 𝟓 𝝁𝒎 and smaller.
c) What is Particulate matter?
Answer: Particulate Matter is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and
liquid droplets. The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing
health problems. Particles that are 10 micrometre or smaller, frequently pass through
the nose and throats and enters the lungs.
12) Write short note on emission inventory.
Answer:
Emission Inventory is an essential input required to forecast the air quality. Emission
inventories helps to identify the emission sources in the region and contribution of each
source to the total emission. The quality of forecast depends on the accuracy and reliability
of emission inventories. For scientific Purposes, emission inventories can be used as an input
to 3D atmospheric chemical transport models that are aimed at understanding the chemical
and physical processes and behaviour of air pollutants in the atmosphere and forecasting.