Alexandra Karambelas

(The Earth Institute, Columbia University)

Urban-rural variations in modeled air quality and health impacts in northern India

What Homepage GR UG Meteo Colloquium
When Feb 07, 2018
from 03:30 pm to 04:30 pm
Where Alfred K. Blackadar Library, 529 Walker Building
Contact Name Melissa Gervais
Contact email
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Alexandra Karambelas 2018

Abstract: Ambient air pollution in India is a severe problem, contributing to negative health impacts and approximately 1 million premature deaths. Ground-based monitors frequently used to monitor surface air quality are often located in urban regions, yet approximately 70% of India’s population resides in rural areas where other tools must be used to understand the health implications of air quality. Using high-resolution concentrations from the regional Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model over densely-populated northern India, we estimate air quality and health impacts due to anthropogenic emission sectors for urban and rural regions. We introduce urban- and rural-specific activity information for transportation and residential combustion sectors into the anthropogenic emissions inventory from the Greenhouse Gas Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model, gridded following version 5a of the Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants project. Modeled concentrations inform relative risk calculations and exposure estimates as performed in the Global Burden of Disease. In this talk I present results for ambient surface concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 and associated cause-specific mortality in total regionally and by comparing effects across urban and rural regions. We find that premature deaths due to air pollution in rural populations largely outweigh those of urban populations. Results have implications for supporting air quality policy decision-making related to pollutant regulations, point source siting, technology development, and more as a means to improve air quality and health impacts in India.