Black carbon monitoring instrument operation, maintenance, and applications

About the workshop

The Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP) of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is organising a two-day regional training workshop to enhance the capacity of our country partners on the basic working principles of black carbon monitoring instrument and its daily operational aspects, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The event is being led by ICIMOD’s Action Area B (AAB) – Stimulating Action for Clean Air housed within ICIMOD’s Strategic Group 1 (SG1) – Reducing Climate and Environmental Risks.

The participants will receive hands-on training guided by a team of scientists and engineers from the original manufacturer. Based on the lessons from this workshop, ICIMOD envisions future training on other air quality parameters such as trace gases. The workshop will be attended by government officials from our regional member countries, academia, researchers and relevant private sectors.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this event are to:

• Build the capacity of partner institutions – government institutions, academia, and other relevant stakeholders – to operate and maintain the Aethalometer instrument
• Ensure high-quality data generation and prevent further damage to the instrument

Background

Over recent decades, the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region has been affected by rising emissions of air pollutants from urban, industrial, and rural sources. This has raised concerns about deteriorating air quality, impacts on health and visibility, changes in atmospheric heating and cooling, and changes in cloud microphysics and the strength and timing of monsoons. Impacts of these pollutants are visible across the region, with increasing stratospheric pollution above the Tibetan Plateau, deposition of light-absorbing substances on snow and ice surfaces, and increased melting of the Himalayan cryosphere.

AAB aims to improve the understanding of air pollutant emissions, atmospheric processes and change, and impacts while promoting mitigation and policy solutions and building capacity and collaboration in the HKH and upwind regions. AAB focuses on studies that involve rigorous social and scientific analysis, using multiple data sets or combinations of field data, modelling, and remote-sensing analysis. These studies are expected to help influence policies and strategies in the region.

Since its establishment, AAB, in collaboration with partners from Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan government (Department of Environment, Department of Environment and Climate Change and Environment Protection Agency-Islamabad, respectively), has set up state-of-the-art air quality monitoring stations with aerosol and trace gas measuring instruments and later to extend them in Bangladesh. Among these instruments, the Aethalometer Model AE33 (manufactured by Aerosol d.o.o., Slovenia) has been used as the primary instrument for measuring ambient black carbon concentration. This instrument requires regular servicing and calibration to ensure high-quality data generation.