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Urban Cordeiro E, Arenas-Calle L, Woolf D, Sherpa S, Poonia S, Kritee K, Dubey R, Choudhary A, Kumar V, McDonald A. The fate of rice crop residues and context-dependent greenhouse gas emissions: Model-based insights from Eastern India. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION 2024; 435:140240. [PMID: 38268972 PMCID: PMC10804972 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.140240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Crop residue burning is a common practice in many parts of the world that causes air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Regenerative practices that return residues to the soil offer a 'no burn' pathway for addressing air pollution while building soil organic carbon (SOC). Nevertheless, GHG emissions in rice-based agricultural systems are complex and difficult to anticipate, particularly in production contexts with highly variable hydrologic conditions. Here we predict long-term net GHG fluxes for four rice residue management strategies in the context of rice-wheat cropping systems in Eastern India: burning, soil incorporation, livestock fodder, and biochar. Estimations were based on a combination of Tier 1, 2, and 3 modelling approaches, including 100-year DNDC simulations across three representative soil hydrologic categories (i.e., dry, median, and wet). Overall, residue burning resulted in total direct GHG fluxes of 2.5, 6.1, and 8.7 Mg CO2-e in the dry, median, and wet hydrologic categories, respectively. Relative to emissions from burning (positive values indicate an increase) for the same dry to wet hydrologic categories, soil incorporation resulted in a -0.2, 1.8, or 3.1 Mg CO2-e change in emissions whereas use of residues for livestock fodder increased emissions by 2.0, 2.1, or 2.3 Mg CO2-e. Biochar reduced emissions relative to burning by 2.9 Mg CO2-e in all hydrologic categories. This study showed that the production environment has a controlling effect on methane and, therefore, net GHG balance. For example, wetter sites had 2.8-4.0 times greater CH4 emissions, on average, than dry sites when rice residues were returned to the soil. To effectively mitigate burning without undermining climate change mitigation goals, our results suggest that geographically-target approaches should be used in the rice-based systems of Eastern India to incentivize the adoption of regenerative 'no burn' residue management practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Urban Cordeiro
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University, Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Laura Arenas-Calle
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University, Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Dominic Woolf
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University, Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Sonam Sherpa
- CIMMYT-India, Sabajpura, Khagaul, Patna, 801105, Bihar, India
| | - Shishpal Poonia
- CIMMYT-India, Sabajpura, Khagaul, Patna, 801105, Bihar, India
| | - Kritee Kritee
- Environmental Defense Fund, New Delhi, 110001, India
| | - Rachana Dubey
- ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar, India
| | | | - Virender Kumar
- Sustainable Impact Department, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
| | - Andrew McDonald
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University, Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Negi PS, Pandey CP. Black carbon pollutants in pristine Himalayan ecosystem: a pilot study along Gangotri Glacier Valley. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2021; 193:726. [PMID: 34655335 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-021-09482-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The present study provides the first multi-year (2015-2020) random observation of black carbon (BC) aerosols from pristine localities along the Gangotri Glacier Valley in the north-western Indian Himalaya. Due to the harsh climatic conditions and inaccessible terrain, hardly any BC observation is available from glaciated Himalaya. To investigate the background concentration of BC in the high Himalaya, random measurements are conducted at five locations at variable microclimates with different anthropogenic influences along a 24-km-long Gangotri Glacier Valley trek, viz. Gangotri (~ 3200 m amsl), Chirbasa (~ 3600 m amsl), Bhojbasa (~ 3800 m amsl), Gaumukh (~ 4000 m amsl), and Tapovan (~ 4400 m amsl). A relatively high concentration of BC (up to 2.23 ± 0.57 μg m-3) was recorded at Gangotri which is a famous Indian pilgrimage centre which remains highly crowded during the peak tourist season, i.e. May-June and Oct-Nov every year. Surprisingly, we also recorded high BC (up to 1.27 ± 0.57 μg m-3) at Tapovan, which is a high altitude meadow surrounded by high ice-snow peaks, viz. Bhagirathi Peak (6856 m amsl), Shivling (6543 m amsl), and Meru Parvat (6660 m amsl). The HYSPLIT cluster trajectory and CALIPSO data images suggest that besides local anthropogenic activities, polluted air mass-produced due to burning of forest and agriculture biomass and fossil fuels, etc. transported from Indo Gangetic Basin might be playing a potential role in ambient BC concentration in the study area. The present preliminary investigations of BC in the Gangotri Glacier Valley open new vision and possibilities for further extensive ground-based observation of aerosol air pollutants in Himalayan glacier valley systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pyar S Negi
- Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
| | - Chhavi P Pandey
- Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
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Nizam S, Sen IS, Vinoj V, Galy V, Selby D, Azam MF, Pandey SK, Creaser RA, Agarwal AK, Singh AP, Bizimis M. Biomass-Derived Provenance Dominates Glacial Surface Organic Carbon in the Western Himalaya. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2020; 54:8612-8621. [PMID: 32584029 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c02710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The origin, transport pathway, and spatial variability of total organic carbon (OC) in the western Himalayan glaciers are poorly understood compared to those of black carbon (BC) and dust, but it is critically important to evaluate the climatic role of OC in the region. By applying the distribution of OC activation energy; 14C activity; and radiogenic isotopes of 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb in glacial debris and atmospheric particulate matter (PM10 size fraction), we demonstrate that 98.3 ± 1.6 and 1.7 ± 1.6% of OC in western Himalayan glaciers are derived from biomass and petrogenic sources, respectively. The δ13C and N/C composition indicates that the biomass is a complex mixture of C3 vegetation and autochthonous photoautotrophic input modified by heterotrophic microbial activity. The data set reveals that the studied western Himalayan glacier has negligible contributions from fossil-fuel-derived particles, which contrasts to the central and eastern Himalayan glaciers that have significant contributions from fossil fuel sources. We show that this spatial variability of OC sources relates to regional differences in air mass transport pathways and precipitation regimes over the Himalaya. Moreover, our observation suggests that biomass-derived carbon could be the only primary driver of carbon-induced glacier melting in the western Himalaya.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarwar Nizam
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Indra S Sen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Velu Vinoj
- School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752050, India
| | - Valier Galy
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, United States
| | - David Selby
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, U.K
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, School of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Mohammad F Azam
- Discipline of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore 453552, India
| | - Satyendra K Pandey
- School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752050, India
| | - Robert A Creaser
- Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences University of Alberta, 126 ESB, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G2R3
| | - Avinash K Agarwal
- Engine Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Akhilendra P Singh
- Engine Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Michael Bizimis
- School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, United States
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