title: Study on concentration of ambient NH3 and interactions with some other ambient trace gases.
abstract: We present diurnal variation of ambient ammonia (NH(3)) in relation with other trace gases (O(3), CO, NO, NO(2), and SO(2)) and meteorological parameters at an urban site of Delhi during winter period. For the first time, ambient ammonia (NH(3)) was monitored very precisely and continuously using ammonia analyzer, which operates on chemiluminescence method. NH(3) estimation efficiency of the chemiluminescence method (>90%) is much higher than the conventional chemical trapping method (reproducibility 4.5%). Ambient NH(3) concentration reaches its maxima (46.17 ppb) at night and minimum during midday. Result reveals that the ambient ammonia (NH(3)) concentration is positively correlated with ambient NO (r(2) = 0.79) and NO(2) (r (2) = 0.91) mixing ratio and negatively correlated with ambient temperature (r(2) = - 0.32). Wind direction and wind speed indicates that the nearby (approximately 500 m NW) agricultural fields may be major source of ambient NH(3) at the observational site.
authors.affiliation: Radio and Atmospheric Science Division, National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Marg, New Delhi, 110 012, India. sudhir@mail.nplindia.ernet.in
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saud
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: Y N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Ahammed
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Tiwari
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis*; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D049449:Luminescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D000641:Ammonia