Key Points
On four of the last six days till Friday, Delhis air quality early warning system (EWS) which utilises different satellite data sets and is based on state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport models has made incorrect predictions..
In 2023, when the city had its first severe air pollution day (the AQI shot past the dismaying 400 figure) on November 2, the EWS missed the signs by a wide six-day margin at the time, it predicted the AQI would not slip into the deep red zone till November 9. ..
Launched in October 2018 to provide air quality warnings up to 10 days in advance, the EWS has had a worrying track record, leaving citizens uninformed about when they should take precautions to cope with the annual public health crisis, and authorities unable to announce curbs that could prevent some of the deterioration or at least allow them to respond faster to the conditions. ..
Along with another model known as the decision support system (DSS) which tracks farm fires in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana, the EWS feeds insights used by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which then decides how the graded response action plan (Grap) for curbs on activities is enforced..
Mukesh Khare, an air pollution expert from IIT Delhi, said that even with the EWS being utilised and Grap beginning to be imposed, such ad-hoc, short-term measures will do little to help Delhis AQI in the long run..
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