Thick blanket of smog shrouds Delhi

Transport emissions to dominate city’s pollution over next three days, says govt data 10 of 57 monitoring stations record air quality levels in the ‘severe’ category

A bird’s eye view of Connaught Place on Thursday afternoon shows dense smog with reduced visibility, as pollution levels entered the ‘very poor’ zone | Parveen Negi 

NEW DELHI: As a thick blanket of smog continued to engulf Delhi on Thursday, with air quality remaining in the ‘very poor’ category and several monitoring stations recording ‘severe’ levels, transport emissions are expected to remain the biggest contributor to the city’s pollution load over the next three days, while the share of stubble burning is likely to fluctuate, according to a revised DSS forecast on Thursday afternoon.

The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) climbed to 350, firmly in the ‘very poor’ category, from 313 recorded on Thursday. Of the 57 air quality monitoring stations that recorded data on Thursday, 10 were in the ‘severe’ category, 42 in the ‘very poor’ category, four in the ‘poor’ category and only one in the ‘moderate’ category. The Delhi Cantonment monitoring station, however, recorded the city’s best air quality, with a 24-hour average AQI of 138, in the ‘moderate’ category.

The revised projections by the Decision Support System (DSS) indicate that transport emissions will account for around 16% of the city’s pollution load on Thursday, while the contribution of stubble burning is estimated at 8.9%.

The transport sector’s share is expected to climb further to 18.5% on Friday and 20.5% on Saturday. In comparison, the contribution of stubble burning is projected to fall to 5.3% on Friday before rising again to 13.29% on Saturday.

Parveen Negi

The estimates marked a significant departure from Wednesday’s projections, which had suggested that the contribution of farm fires to Delhi’s pollution would rise sharply, reaching nearly 20% on Thursday. The revised forecast, however, pointed to a relatively lower contribution from stubble burning, shifting focus back to local emission sources, particularly vehicular pollution.

Weather expert Navdeep Dahiya said, “The worst AQI day in terms of afternoon hours level, as most stations are reporting in the range of 400-600. A thick layer of smog is visible on satellite imagery as well, covering Delhi-NCR, Central Haryana and West UP. Generally, ahead of Western disturbances, when winds slow down such conditions occur. There is a scope of improvement from November 13.”

The IMD has forecast fog or mist in the morning and a partly cloudy sky on Friday.