Thick smog hints at increased air pollution

The Times of India , Sunday, December 22, 2013
Correspondent : Jayashree Nandi
NEW DELHI: It was not just gloomy and cold, but Saturday also saw extremely high levels of air pollution in many parts of the city. Thick smog and haze that enveloped Delhi all day is an indicator of high concentration of pollutants in the air. According to Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, PM 10 (coarse particles) levels increased by about 20% and PM 2.5 (fine respirable particles) increased by 15%, when compared to Friday. In several places, PM 10 levels were four to five times more than the prescribed levels, making people vulnerable to complications associated with respiratory illnesses.

Gufran Beig, program director of System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) at IITM explained that dense fog was a result of westerly disturbance which has brought a lot of moisture and cold air, thereby lowering the boundary layer (lowest one or two kilometers of the atmosphere). "The boundary layer is like an upper lid. It came down to 700 to 800 meters from 1 km on Friday, leading to a high concentration of pollutants. Fortunately, PM 2.5 levels, which can cause serious health impacts, were not as high as PM 10. The pollutants will wash away if it rains tomorrow," Beig explained.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) scientists believe the next few days will continue to be foggy, cold and NCR may see a light drizzle.

Highest PM 10 levels were recorded from North Campus, which were over four times the standard, while lowest levels were recorded at Lodhi Road and Aya Nagar though they were twice more than normal. However, data from Delhi Pollution Control Committee indicated PM 10 levels were over five times the standard at many places. At Mandir Marg and RK Puram oxides of nitrogen was about three times the standard.

Centre for Science and Environment analyzed the correlation between dense fog and pollution during December 13 to 18 at Mandir Marg and RK Puram and found that PM 10 levels doubled December 15 onwards. "We wanted to study how the change in weather is linked to air pollution and found this huge jump in PM 10 levels over just two days," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE. She added that such peaks in air pollution call for a public information system that can issue health advisories to people.

Meteorologists described it to be a 'cold day' phenomenon, where daytime temperatures fall but nighttime temperature is usually normal or above normal. "Saturday's day time temperature reduced by four degrees compared to Friday because there was no radiation from the sun. We expect similar conditions tomorrow. There may be moderate snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, light snowfall in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and light rainfall in Punjab, Haryana and NCR. Saturday may have been the coldest day so far," said BP Yadav, director, IMD.

The minimum and maximum temperature was 12.5 degree and 15.9 degree Celsius, with humidity of 95%. Visibility was less than 200 meters in NCR, Punjab, Haryana and North Rajasthan.

 
SOURCE : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-22/delhi/45473253_1_air-pollution-pm-10-levels-anumita-roychowdhury
 


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