Air quality ‘severe’ in Delhi for 2nd day; stubble burning, low wind speed major factors
The contribution of stubble burning to PM2.5 levels in Delhi hit the highest figure for the season so far on Thursday, standing at 25.232%, as per the Decision Support System (DSS) developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
Commuters on a road shrouded in smog amid hazy weather conditions, in New Delhi, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Delhi-NCR's air quality neared the emergency threshold on Thursday, prompting an immediate ban on non-essential construction work and the closure of primary schools in the capital. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma) Delhi’s air quality deteriorated further Friday morning with a 24-hour average AQI of 471, in the upper end of the ‘severe’ category, at 9 am.
With pollutants remaining suspended in the air on account of low wind speeds, poor visibility continues to prevail. Visibility at the Palam airport has remained at around 500 m from 7 am onwards, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). On Thursday afternoon, visibility at Palam had been around 1000 m.
The contribution of stubble burning to PM2.5 levels in Delhi hit the highest figure for the season so far on Thursday, standing at 25.232%, as per the Decision Support System (DSS) developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. This is up from 18.312% on Wednesday, and 7.175% on Tuesday.
The DSS indicates that this contribution is likely to rise further to around 35.429% on Friday.
While the minimum temperature was around 16.8 degrees Celsius early on Friday, a degree above the normal for this time of the year, calm conditions are likely to continue in the city till around 11.30 am, with the wind direction likely to be from the northwest after that, going by the IMD forecast. Winds from the north and northwest help carry smoke from stubble burning into the NCR.
The AQI in other parts of the NCR was also in the ‘severe’ category Friday morning – Baghpat, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Jind, Rohtak, and Sonipat. Of these places, Greater Noida had the worst AQI of 478, followed by Delhi.
The worst AQI in Delhi Friday morning was 499 at Mundka, followed by 497 at Wazirpur and Punjabi Bagh.
Particulate matter levels have remained high all through Thursday and early on Friday. Data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) shows that at Mundka, PM10 levels hit a high of 940 µg/m3 at 9 pm on Thursday, which is more than nine times the prescribed 24-hour standard of 100 µg/m3.
The PM2.5 level peaked at 589 µg/m3 at 3 am at Mundka, DPCC data shows. This is also more than nine times the air quality standard of 60 µg/m3.
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