Delhi government measured the levels of pollution at the 24-designated locations in Delhi on the Diwali night (October 27). It is pertinent to note here that the pollution levels were low as compared to the Diwali nights of the previous years.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that pollution levels in the national capital region during Diwali were the lowest in five years. Kejriwal urged the people to keep up their efforts to curb air pollution and help the government in improving Delhi's air quality.
On Diwali day, the city average concentration (for 24 hrs) for PM 2.5 ranged from 58 µg/m3 to 1070 µg/m3. The minimum value was observed at 4:00 P.M. and maximum value was observed at Midnight. The location wise minimum concentration was observed at Najafgarh (168 µg/m3) and maximum concentration was observed at Vivek Vihar (687 µg/m3).
On Diwali day in 2018, the average concentration (for 24 hrs) for PM 2.5 ranged from 69 µg/m3 to 1560 µg/m3. The minimum value was observed at 3:00 P.M. and maximum value was observed at 01:00 A.M.
Meanwhile, the overall air quality of Delhi was in Severe category on Monday. Though the PM2.5 concentrations peaked around midnight(1 AM), the concentrations were much less than that of the last 3 years. The main factors contributing to this was high boundary layer wind speed, whcih helped in flushing out and dispersing the emissions form firecrackers.
Monday's (October 28) most dominating factor to drive Air quality towards deterioration
Favorable means Good; Unfavorable means bad and OK means normal for Air Quality.
(1) RAINFALL : No – Unfavorable
(2) LOCALIZED DUST LIFTING: : Low –Favorable
(3) LONG DISTANCE DUST TRANSPORT: Low–Favorable
(4) SURFACE WIND SPEED:Moderate: Favorable
(5) SURFACE WIND DIRECTION :Southwesterly – Unfavorable
(6) RELATIVE HUMIDITY: Moderate –Favorable.
(7) MIXING LAYER HEIGHT:Moderate - Favorable .
(8) LOCAL TEMPERATURE:Moderate– Favorable
(9) BIOMASS-FIRE COUNTS:High (increasing)–Unfavorable
(10) STUBBLE TRANSPORT LEVEL WIND(at 900 mb) DIRECTION: Northwesterly –Unfavorable
(11) FIRECRACKERS: High (increasing)–Unfavorable
