Buddha’s birthplace hit by India’s pollution
: High levels of pollution in Indian states located on the Indo-Gangetic plains like Delhi, Haryana and Punjab might be corroding the monuments in Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini in Nepal, which is a World Heritage Site.
According to a recent study published in Environment Science and Pollution Research, high levels of aerosols were observed across seasons in Lumbini. The study analysed data on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), a measure of how much sunlight is prevented from reaching the ground as the aerosol particles either absorb it or scatter it.
Scientists observed that the average AOD in the area between January 2013 and December 2014 was 0.64, with the highest seasonal AOD recorded after the monsoons at 0.72.
An AOD value of 0.01 corresponds to an extremely clean atmosphere and the value of 0.4 would mean very hazy condition, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US-based scientific agency.
“Lumbini is just 8 kilometres away from the Indo-Nepal bor- der. We have seen that any emissions in the Indo-Gangetic plains tend to move towards the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau through Nepal. We have demonstrated previously that biomass burning over north-western Indo-Gangetic plains were responsible for air pollution episodes in Lumbini,” said Dipesh Rupakheti, study’s lead author.
For over 80% of the days during the monitoring period, the average AOD recorded was above 0.3, suggesting that the region was as polluted as many of the most polluted places in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
Most of the air mass in Lumbini either originates or travels through heavily aerosol-laden areas in the Indo-Gangetic plains, which extends from Pakistan to Bangladesh through northern India and southern Nepal and is one of the most polluted regions in the world.
“Monuments and buildings made of marble and sandstone, most notable being the Ashoka Pillar, are vulnerable to air pollution and are at a risk of corrosion, soiling, abrasion and discolouration,” said Rupakheti.
Apart from the historically important monuments, there are several recently built monasteries and temples made of white marble that can get discoloured.
“The pollution also adversely affects the crop productivity and sensitive ecosystems like snowfields and glaciers in the mountain regions. It is very important to study the accumulation of these aerosols in the southern flank of the Himalayas and their impact,” he said. The wind patterns in the area are such that the polluted air moves towards the Himalayas’ foothills and the mountainous Tibetan regions.
NEW DELHI