As AQI in North India reaches ‘severe plus’ levels, toxic smog now visible from space

“Today’s pollution in North India is clearly visible from space, compared to just one month ago,” a Reddit post notes, sharing a map showing the vast pollution blanket across the region in grey.

See the post:

The post features two images taken a month apart. In the October image, the northern part of India appears clear, but by November, a greyish haze is noticeable around the Delhi region, indicating a significant increase in pollution.

Several Reddit users expressed their frustration in the comments on the post. One Redditor shared, “It’s so bad that my air purifier is running non-stop but it still shows a red light. I’ve closed the door and windows but it won’t get better.”

Another user commented, “We’re doomed.”

A third person asked, “what are u guys doing there? I mean what’s so differently done there which is leading to such pollution,” to which a Redditor replied, “It’s mostly due to the geography of the place, the air is trapped and anything we put into the air just stays there. So ideally we really have to reduce how much stuff we put into the air in winters. However, instead of doing that, we put even more stuff by doing crop burning, etc.”

On Monday, AQI in Delhi soared to an alarming level of over 500, marking the highest reading of the season. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Noida’s AQI stood at 423, while Gurgaon and Ghaziabad reported AQI at 469 and 438, respectively, on the same day.

AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 falls under ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 is ‘poor’, 301 to 400 is ‘very poor’, 401 to 450 is ‘severe’, and anything above 450 is categorised as ‘severe plus’.