Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi was launched in Delhi on October 15, 2018, by Union Minister for Earth Sciences and Environment Dr Harsh Vardhan. The System is designed to predict extreme air pollution events and give alerts to take necessary steps as per Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Government of India.
The air pollution system has been developed jointly by the scientists at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, India Meteorological Department, and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).
Speaking at the launch, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the early warning system will help in proactively forewarning, 3-4 days in advance, any largescale air pollution events which may occur over the Delhi region. Outlining a series of efforts that the central government has taken, he said that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has constituted a 41 member team which will continuously monitor the air pollution levels in Delhi and NCR region and will report to the board.
“Badarpur thermal power plant is being closed today, western peripheral expressway is likely to become operational in the first week of November, the Central government has released nearly Rs 600 crore to the states concerned for in-situ management of crop-residue and a slew of mitigation measures have been taken by the government,” the Minister added, according to a PIB release.
A new website developed for archiving all the observational and prediction products was also launched at the event. The website will be accessed by the officials of Environmental Pollution Authority (EPA) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for taking necessary steps depending upon the requirements.
The warning system consists of a) Real time observations of air quality over Delhi region and details about natural aerosols like dust (from duststorms) and particulate matter using different satellite data sets b) Predictions of air pollutants from two different air quality prediction system based on state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport models and c) Warning Messages and Alerts and Bulletins.