Strong winds help disperse pollutants in Delhi’s air
NEW DELHI: A windy weather is keeping Delhi air clean with the air quality index (AQI) staying in “moderate” levels.
In terms of pollution, air quality was ‘moderate’ on Monday with Air Quality Index (AQI) 185. AQI is calculated on a scale of 0-500. An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401500 ‘severe’.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) real-time monitoring, at 6am on Monday, the concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 82.4 microgram per cubic meter (ug/m3) and 192.2 ug/m3, respectively.
The particulate matter marginally increased throughout the day and at 6pm the concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 83.5 ug/m3 and 193.7 ug/m3, respectively.
Both PM 10 and PM 2.5 are ultrafine particles and the dominant pollutants in Delhi. The acceptable levels of PM 10, the larger particulate matter, and PM 2.5, which measures the finer and more dangerous particulate matter, are 100 μg/m3 and 60 μg/ m3, respectively.
Experts say the strong winds are helping disperse partiuclate matter. “Strong winds to the tune of 25km per hour are helping in dispersing the pollutants. At one point, it even reached to 35km per hour on Monday. It is also helping stall the rising temperature. In the next few days, however, the wind speed will come down and temperatures will rise,” Kuldeep Shrivastav, scientist at the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre in Delhi, said.
On Monday, the maximum temperature was 33.7 degrees Celsius, two points above aver- age, and the minimum was 19.5 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.
On Tuesday, a clear sky is expected with mist in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 35 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively.
“Till March 29, the temperature will rise to around 36 degree Celsius. On March 30-31, it is expected to dip a little to 33 degree. This is because of the moisture-laden easterly winds that will hit Delhi-ncr,” Shrivastav said.