Aerosols in Indo-Gangetic Plain causing High Rainfall

A team of researchers have found that the aerosols like black carbon and dust have increased the instances of high rainfall in the foothills of the Himalayan Regions.

Highlights

• The aerosols including the black carbon and dust makes the Indo-Gangetic Plain one among the most polluted regions of the world.
• The study was carried by the team of researchers fromNational Institute of Technology Rourkela, Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and University of Leipzig, Germany.
• The team also get the support from the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India underthe DST Climate Change program.
• The team have highlighted the role played by aerosol direct radiation in causing the high precipitation events in the Himalayan region.

About the Study

• The study finds that the particulate emissions have the potential to change the physical and dynamical properties of the cloud systems.
• The particulate emissions or aerosols can increase the rainfall events in the orographic regions of highly polluted urban areas.
• The study finds that there is a correlation between high precipitation events, high aerosol loading, and high Moist Static Energy (MSE) values.
• It further highlight the role of radiative effect of aerosol on the high precipitation events in the Himalayan region.

Indo-Gangetic Plains

The Indo-Gangetic Plain is also called as the Indus-Ganga and the North Indian River Plain. The plain lies in between the great northern mountain and the peninsular plateau. This plain is formed by three rivers namely, Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra and the tributaries of these rivers. The plain have an area of about 7, 00,000 sq. km covering the Northern and Eastern India.