Global meet in Sept on aerosol air quality & impact on Greater Himalayas

New Delhi: The Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, will in mid-September organise a major online international conference on ‘Aerosol Air Quality, Climate Change and Impact on Water Resources and Livelihoods in the Greater Himalayas’.

The conference will deliberate on the rapid increase in air pollution associated with industrialisation and urbanisation and the impact on regional and global air quality, visibility degradation, cloud formation and atmospheric chemistry, radiation budget, ecosystem, Himalayan climate and glaciology, cryosphere, monsoon patterns, water availability, and human health — important topics of discussion particularly in India, Nepal & Bangladesh.

ARIES), an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, (HNBGU), Srinagar (Pauri Garhwal), are jointly planning the three-day online international conference between 14th -16th September 2020.

The international conference is part of the celebration of Golden Jubilee Commemoration Year of DST. This is the first Online International conference to be held at ARIES, Nainital, during the pandemic.

The invited speakers in the conference are from different parts of the globe and will deliver lectures under the themes: Growing air pollution over the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Central Gangetic Himalayan Region, Himalayan Glaciers, Climate Change impacts on Himalayan Glacier and monsoon over the Himalayas, Extreme events and so on. The reviewed presentations will be published on a thematic issue entitled “Aerosols-Climate interaction and water resources over the Himalayas” in the Journal of Earth System Science (JESS).

ARIES, Nainital, started research activities in the field of atmospheric science and climate change about two decades ago. It has installed a battery of modern instruments at Manora Peak, a strategically important location in the Central Himalayan region, for in situ measurements of various optical, physical and chemical properties of aerosols and trace gases.

ARIES has also established both national and international collaborations in these areas.