Eye in the sky, and on the ground: CAQM to soon get more accurate, verified data on areas where stubble burnt

Last year, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and adjoining areas moved to address stubble fire undercounting by improving the mapping of burnt farms. The Supreme Court, too, had taken cognizance of the issue and had directed CAQM to improve enforcement against stubble burning by getting more satellite data of such areas.

While a pilot was initiated last year, full-fledged testing is underway this year and ground truthing, or verification, has begun with the support of authorities in Punjab and Haryana, multiple people aware of the matter told The Indian Express.

With a fair amount of ground validation expected till late this year, authorities hope to put the finalised ‘burnt area’ mapping protocol into operation by next winter.

A government official said mapping burnt areas would help in focused action on the ground. 1“If we discern that fire counts in an area are fewer, but the area burnt is large, it gives a better picture of the situation on ground to enforce laws and rules,” said this official.

This exercise involves the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), remote sensing centres in Punjab, the Haryana Space Applications Centre, district authorities in these states, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Satellites including the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 capture high-resolution images (10 metres) which are used to estimate the farm area burnt. This data is shared with state governments for validation, said a scientist aware of the developments. The satellite passes over the region once every five days. Images from other products are also used but Sentinel-2 is relied on heavily as it is open source. Optical images, near-infrared images, short-wave infrared 1 and short-wave infrared 2 images are used to detect burn scars on fields.

To be sure, some agencies had been mapping burnt areas independently. But since last year, all of them have been working to arrive at a standardised mapping protocol.

Authorities on the ground are using an application developed by NRSC to feed verified data on the ‘burnt areas’, and ground validation will be a good test of the accuracy of satellite data, an official said.

A scientist said fortnightly estimates on burnt areas have been available internally since the stubble fire monitoring began on September 15.

Delhi’s air quality continued to be severe on Wednesday, measuring 418 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s index. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s Decision Support System showed that stubble burning contributed to 15.45 percent of PM 2.5 concentration in Delhi on Wednesday.

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