Correlation and time-series analysis of black carbon in the coal mine regions of India: a case study

In recent times, black carbon (BC) has attracted the interest of the researchers due to its adverse effect on human health, climate, rainfall, and global heating causing the melting of ice in the poles due to carbon deposition on it. Coal industry is the backbone of Indian economy and India being the world’s third largest producer of coal. Various mining activities are leading to spontaneous emission of black carbon in the atmosphere, especially in the IGP (Indo-Gangetic plain) region. Long-term studies related to black carbon emission in the coal regions of India are very rare. In the present study, a long-term datum of 38 years (1980–2018) for the amount of black carbon emission among the three important coal mines of India, namely Bokaro, Jharia, and Raniganj, is studied using correlation analysis, and time-series analysis along with a few other mathematical parameters. The comparison and forecast obtained using this study will be beneficial in the upcoming years, so as to gather the interest of the government, NGOs, and researchers in this area, so that new policies and preventive measures could be taken to curtail the black carbon concentration from the coal mines.