India NCAP – Airshed Definitions and Ambient Monitoring Needs

Updated: February, 2021

In this report, we defined (a) the size of NCAP city airsheds (b) the recommended number of ambient air quality monitoring sites in an airshed (c) the operational sampling frequency to support receptor-based source apportionment studies. These resources are necessary for strengthening the monitoring needs of an airshed to track pollution levels, to conduct receptor-model-based source apportionment studies, and to support long-term air quality management plans.

[Download the full document]
[Download grid & airshed information by city]

[Supplementary Material]
1. GIS formatted shape file with the grid information of 94 airsheds covering 122 NCAP cities
2. A summary of monthly variation of meteorological fields (a) near surface temperature (b) near surface wind speeds (c) precipitation and (d) mixing heights for all airsheds
3. A summary of pros and cons of source apportionment approaches. More on the approaches is also available as a primer
4. A summary of strengths and limitations of receptor models
5. Recommended number of ambient air quality monitors at district and state level
6. Extracts from CPCB (2011) study of source apportionment in six cities. Full report is available here.

The table below presents details at the city level as a Google Earth enabled KML file with grid information and as an infograph with airshed related information on geospatial spread, population, and monitoring needs.