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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-1428</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of Carbonaceous Aerosols during Post-Monsoon Biomass Burning and Diwali at an Upwind Site of Delhi</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Singh</surname>
<given-names>Vasu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7886-6464</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ganguly</surname>
<given-names>Dilip</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5282-0156</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rathore</surname>
<given-names>Jaswant</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7144-0036</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sahu</surname>
<given-names>Lokesh Kumar</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6774-0546</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kunchala</surname>
<given-names>Ravi K.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dey</surname>
<given-names>Sagnik</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0604-0869</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Space and Atmospheric Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>15</day>
<month>04</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>54</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Vasu Singh et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1428/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1428/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1428/egusphere-2026-1428.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1428/egusphere-2026-1428.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Sonipat, located ~40 km northwest of Delhi, lies along the principal transport corridor linking post-monsoon agricultural burning regions of Punjab&amp;ndash;Haryana with Delhi and serves as an intermediate receptor for regional pollution. We conducted intensive high time resolution measurements of composition-based PM₂.₅ (non-refractory PM₂.₅ plus black carbon) from 25 October to 15 November 2023 using a ToF-ACSM and an Aethalometer to characterize carbonaceous aerosol sources during the biomass-burning period. Two severe haze episodes occurred, with PM₂.₅ exceeding 300 &amp;micro;g/m&amp;sup3;. Organic aerosol dominated the submicron mass (~65 % of non-refractory PM₂.₅), with daily mean concentrations peaking near 140 &amp;micro;g/m&amp;sup3; during the first haze episode. Positive Matrix Factorization resolved five components including hydrocarbon-like, biomass-burning, and solid-fuel combustion organic aerosol, and two oxygenated fractions representing semi-volatile and low-volatility aged aerosol. Secondary organic aerosol accounted for ~57&amp;ndash;60 % of organic aerosol mass, with low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol reaching 42.8 &amp;micro;g/m&amp;sup3; during peak haze, indicating substantial regional aging and accumulation. Biomass-derived black carbon contributed ~78 % of total black carbon (mean 10.9 &amp;micro;g/m&amp;sup3;), far exceeding fossil-fuel contributions (~3.1 &amp;micro;g/m&amp;sup3;). Trajectory and wind analyses consistently identified northwestern agricultural regions as dominant sources with minor traffic influence, indicating that extreme carbonaceous aerosol over Delhi-NCR largely forms outside the urban core through regional transport biomass and solid-fuel combustion emissions combined with sustained secondary processing, highlighting the need for coordinated airshed-scale emission reductions across the Indo-Gangetic Plain.</p>
</abstract>
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