As Delhi’s air quality deteriorated further on Tuesday with the Air Quality Index (AQI) climbing to 348 in the ‘very poor’ category, stubble burning is likely to contribute an increasing share to the city’s PM2.5 pollution over the next three days, according to a forecast.
No residue-burning incidents were detected in Delhi or Uttarakhand on the day, according to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) Lab of the Division of Agricultural Physics at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
The DSS forecast for stubble-burning contribution over the next three days is based on climatological data on fire counts and emissions. However, the number of farm-fire incidents has witnessed a significant decline over the years, CREAMS Lab data showed. The data, compiled using satellite remote sensing under the standard protocol for estimating crop residue-burning fire events, indicates a sustained reduction in detected incidents compared with previous years, even as farm fires continue to contribute to Delhi’s particulate pollution during the post-harvest season.
the city’s deteriorating air quality is influenced by multiple sources of pollution, with the contribution of farm fires also varying according to prevailing meteorological conditions and wind conditions While the forecast points to a rising share of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 levels.
