Brown Carbon ‘Tarballs’ Detectedin Himalayan Atmosphere

Recently a team of scientists from Zhejiang University detected tarballs in the air samples taken at a remote, high-altitude research station in the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau on the northern slope of the Himalayas.

Key Findings

• The researchers found that nearly 28 per cent of the particles collected from the air samples were tarballs.
• The percentage of the tarballsincreased from 12 % on clean days to an average of 38 % on polluted days, with a maximum value of 53 %.
• The data revealed that a dense array of active fire spots — corresponding to large-scale wheat-residue burning on the Indo-Gangetic Plain — occurred ....