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Revisiting the crop yield loss in India attributable to ozone
Published in Elsevier Ltd
2019
Volume: 1
   
Abstract
Crop Yield Loss (CYL) due to surface ozone substantially affects the Indian economy and the food availability for a billion residents. Nevertheless, the incurring losses over India remain uncertain due to limited measurements and significant uncertainties in the surface O3 simulated by chemistry-transport models, amongst other causes. Here, we revisit the ozone-attributable CYL using WRF-Chem model, with a set up previously shown to better reproduce the observed ozone variations over the contrasting chemical environments across the Indian region. WRF-Chem simulated ozone fields are converted to Accumulated Ozone above a Threshold of 40 ppbv (AOT40) for two primary crop growing seasons in India, i.e. Kharif (mid-June to mid-September), and Rabi (December to February). Relative Yield Losses (RYL) for wheat are found to be higher (∼21–26%) than those in a recent study based on observations (∼15%), as the model accounts for the rural chemistry which can be different from urban/suburban/high altitude environments where measurements are largely conducted. Additionally, RYL for rice estimated here (∼6%) is 3 times greater than a previous study using this model at a relatively coarser resolution to derive average surface ozone with a set of simulations with varying emission inventories, not evaluated in detail before deriving crop losses. The economic losses due to CYL estimated in this study (∼5 billion USD for wheat and 1.5 billion USD for rice) are on the higher side, when estimations from various studies are inter-compared (0.6–4.3 billion USD for wheat, and 0.5–1.5 billion USD for rice), for which increasing crop prices is also a contributing factor. Our study highlights an urgent need to conduct strategic ozone observations especially over agricultural fields, and the development of yearly regional-emission database to support policy making in India. © 2019 The Authors
About the journal
JournalData powered by TypesetAtmospheric Environment: X
PublisherData powered by TypesetElsevier Ltd
ISSN25901621
Open AccessYes
Concepts (37)
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    Crops
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    Cultivation
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    Losses
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    Uncertainty analysis
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    Agricultural fields
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    Chemical environment
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    CHEMISTRY TRANSPORT MODEL
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    Contributing factor
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    CROP YIELD
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    Emission inventories
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    SURFACE OZONE
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    WRF-CHEM
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    Ozone
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    Agricultural land
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    Atmospheric chemistry
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    Atmospheric modeling
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    CROP YIELD
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    Emission inventory
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    Estimation method
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    FOOD AVAILABILITY
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    GROWING SEASON
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    MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE
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    Rice
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    Threshold
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    ALTITUDE
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    Article
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    Economic aspect
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    GROWING SEASON
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    HARVEST
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    India
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    Nonhuman
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    PLANT GROWTH
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    Priority journal
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    SUBURBAN AREA
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    Urban area
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    Wheat
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    Triticum aestivum