A B S T R A C T Characteristics and emission budget of carbonaceous species from two distinct post-harvest agricultural-waste (paddy-and wheat-residue) burning emissions have been studied from a source region (Patiala: 30.28N, 76.38E; 250 m amsl) in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), Northern India. The PM 2.5 mass concentration varies from 60 to 390 mg m (3 during paddy-residue burning (OctoberÁNovember) with dominant contribution from organic carbon (OC:33%), whereas contribution from elemental carbon (EC) centres at Â4%. Watersoluble organic carbon (WSOC) accounts for about 50% of OC. In contrast, mass concentration of PM 2.5 during the period of wheat-residue burning (AprilÁMay) is significantly lower, varies from 18 to 123 mg m (3 and mass fractions of EC and OC are 7 and 26%, respectively. The diagnostic ratios of OC/EC (1192), WSOC/OC (0.5290.02), nss-K ' /OC (0.0690.00) and SPAHs/EC (4.390.7 mg/g) from paddy-residue burning emissions are significantly different than those from wheat-residue burning (OC/EC: 3.090.4; WSOC/OC: 0.6090.03; nss-K ' /OC: 0.1490.01 and SPAHs/EC: 1.390.2 mg/g). The emission budget of OC, EC and SPAHs from post-harvest agricultural-waste burning in the IGP are estimated to be 505968 Gg/y, 5992 Gg/y and 182932 Mg/y, respectively. From a global perspective, crop-residue burning in Northern India contributes nearly 20% of both OC and EC to the total emission budget from the agricultural-waste burning.

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