Impact of emission mitigation on ozone-induced wheat and rice damage in India

This study is based on simulated hourly O3 concentration from the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), district-wise seasonal crop production datasets and accumulated daytime hourly O₃ concentration over a threshold of 40 ppbv (AOT40) indices to estimate crop yield damage resulting from ambient O₃ exposure.

The response of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) mitigation action is evaluated based on ground level O₃ simulations with individual reduction in anthropogenicNOx and VOC emissions over the Indian domain. The total loss of wheat and rice from top 10 producing states in India is estimated to be 2.2 million tonnes (3.3%) and 2.05 million tonnes (2.5%) respectively. Sensitivity model study reveals relatively 93% decrease in O₃-induced crop yield losses in response to anthropogenic NOx emission mitigation.