With Saturday’s rainfall increasing moisture in Delhi’s air, pollution levels were pushed deeper into the “very poor” zone on Sunday morning.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data shows that the overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was 361 at 7am on Sunday, which is categorised as “very poor”. On Saturday, the AQI was recorded 356, also in the “very poor” zone. This was a deterioration from Friday’s 295, which is categorised as “poor” in the AQI scale.
Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), said that as an aftermath of Saturday’s western disturbance, high moisture availability with higher air holding capacity and dense fog formation are expected over Delhi, mainly during early morning hours.
“This can trigger heterogeneous aqueous reactions to form secondary aerosols (pollution particles converting into secondary aerosols with the help of water content in the air), which can lead to deterioration of AQI. AQI is likely to deteriorate to the higher end of very poor by Sunday evening. It is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ zone on December 14 and December 15,” the Safar forecast read.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast said that dense fog was also likely early Sunday, which could reduce visibility levels drastically.
By Hindustan Times
WhatsApp us