Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Delhi is breathing some of its cleanest air of the year, with air quality briefly dipping into the ‘good’ category in the early hours of Tuesday, August 4.
According to AQI.in, New Delhi recorded an AQI of just 29 at around 5:30 am, putting the reading in the ‘good’ category, a rare occurrence for the national capital that continues to fight pollution all year round.
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Although the morning saw clean air, it became slightly more polluted as the day progressed, with readings of 54 at 11:31 am, 55 at 12 pm and 57 at 12:31 pm.
The drop in the AQI level is still significant against the backdrop of Delhi’s notoriously poor air quality, particularly during winter.
As residents embrace cleaner air, the question one should ask is what is helping the capital breathe easier now?
WHAT IS HELPING CLEAN DELHI’S AIR?
The biggest factor is the weather.
Delhi’s monsoon showers can help remove pollutants from the atmosphere as rain droplets capture suspended particles and bring some of them down to the ground, while winds help disperse pollutants instead of allowing them to accumulate over the city.
This is why Delhi’s air quality often improves sharply during periods of sustained rain and stronger winds.
The effect can be especially visible in live AQI readings, which can change considerably over the course of a day.
AQI.in’s own data show how quickly Delhi’s air can fluctuate.
Its New Delhi monitoring pages track AQI at frequent intervals, rather than providing just one reading for an entire day.
A USUAL CHANGE
The improvement is also not entirely unusual.
Delhi’s air generally gets a seasonal reprieve during the monsoon.
Regular rain and better atmospheric mixing make it harder for pollutants to remain concentrated close to the surface.
AQI.in’s analysis of Delhi’s air quality has highlighted this seasonal pattern.
For a city as polluted as Delhi, however, even the monsoon does not guarantee consistently clean air.
That matters because Delhi’s pollution problem does not disappear during the rainy season. Vehicles, road dust, construction, industries and other sources continue to release pollutants.
What changes is the atmosphere’s ability to disperse or remove them.
A CLEAN SPELL, NOT AN END OF THE PROBLEM
The August 4 readings show the difference weather can make.
An AQI of 29 at 5:30 am was followed by readings in the mid-50s later in the morning.
That does not mean pollution suddenly returned; rather, it shows that air quality is constantly changing with weather and emissions.
For now, Delhi is enjoying a welcome breathing space. But as the monsoon weakens later in the year, the cleaner conditions could become harder to maintain.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
