Dispersal Conditions and Assimilative Capacity of Air Environment at Gajuwaka Industrial Hub in Visakhapatnam

The comprehension of a pollution event requires not only the accurate determination of the chemical composition of the atmospheric particles but also the elucidation of the role played by the dilution properties of the lower atmosphere. In this context, a rapidly growing Gajuwaka industrial hub in Visakhapatnam was chosen for estimating the assimilative capacity of air environment for its pollution potential by calculating the ventilation coefficient values. The diurnal variations of assimilation capacity of atmosphere were shown high during the noon hours and low at night and early morning hours in all the seasons. The monthly variations of low and high assimilative capacities were observed in the month of February and October respectively. Seasonally, postmonsoon showed high ventilation capacity followed by monsoon, winter and pre-monsoon seasons. Further, this is compared with the seasonal variations of the ambient air quality at the study area. The study area met the criteria of low pollution potential for all the time except for morning hours. The study area exhibited ‘good’ category dispersal conditions with an annual mean of ventilation coefficient value of 4271.6m2s-1 and the duration of ‘good’ dispersal conditions are longer in the months of April, May and June compared to other