Report of International Workshop
1. Changing Chemistry in Changing Climate (C4) -
This workshop was a part of the regional activity of iCACGP and additionally sponsored by IGAC, IITM, MoES (India), SPARC, GURME (WMO) and MAIRS. The inauguration ceremony was also marked by the inauguration of SAFAR-Pune (System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research for Indian Metro cities) which is an operational services of air quality and weather information for the host metropolitan city Pune. The workshop attracted a huge response from scientists, young researchers and students from all over the world and a total of 147 abstracts were selected for oral and poster presentation under four themes. Total number of registered participants who have attended the workshop was 211. Majority of the participants were from the region, representing 19 different states in India. Around 40 foreign scientists were also participated from countries like China, Germany, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and USA. In the course of these sessions, 21 invited talks were delivered by eminent scientists from all over the world.
The opening ceremony of the workshop witnessed the presence of Dr. Shailesh Nayak, secretary to Govt. of India, MoES, along with Prof. John Burrows, President, iCACGP who have made the inaugural speeches and Dr. Liisa Jalkanen, Chief, WMO, who gave the opening speech. Prof. B. N. Goswami, Director IITM, delivered the welcome speech followed by Dr. Gufran Beig and Dr. Manish Naja, conveners, C4, who gave the background on the conference and made the introductory remarks, respectively.
Dr. Nayak, emphasized on the importance of studying the atmospheric chemistry with respect to the changes in the atmospheric composition and chemistry so as to see its impacts on the human health and the other social systems in the region. He also stressed on the need of ground based observation in this tropical region with main focus on long-term time series observations.
A panel discussion on "Black Carbon and Climate Paradox in Asia" was held. Concerns were expressed about the exaggerated role of South Asian black carbon in climate change. It was opined that organic carbon and other form of carbonaceous aerosols are equally important to understand the complete story but they are not given as much importance as BC. At the end it was concluded that there is a need to develop micro-level emission inventory of BC and OC in this region along with systematic measurements of its concentration and flux near the land, ocean and glaciers.
All the talks were delivered under following four themes and focussed on the past, ongoing and future needs of research in the field of atmospheric chemistry, aerosols, Asian monsoon, air quality and its health impacts.
Theme A – Atmospheric Chemistry in South Asia
Discussions were made on the tropospheric chemistry utilizing observed spatial-temporal variations of ozone and other trace gases from different network sites, balloon-borne, aircraft-borne, space-borne and ship-borne observations, micro-meteorological parameters, biomass burning, regional and long-range transport of trace gases, influences of
