Bhopal: A thick blanket of fog engulfed MP cities on Monday night and Tuesday with visibility dropping under 50 metres at most places. The fog in the state is mostly attributed to the fireworks during festival season that is choking lungs. The air quality of Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur remained poor on Tuesday.
Meteorological department, Bhopal circle senior scientist Ved Prakash Singh said, fog and air quality complement each other.Fog directly impacts the air quality, as it leads to trapping at the lower levels. If the fog would be intense, AQI would be more. It is a deadlock, which is broken by rain or clear sunlight, he added. Showers in November did wonders for the air quality of cities, which came down from very poor to satisfactory and moderate levels. The air quality index of Bhopal and other cities that received showers last week on November 27 and November 28 came below 100. But it increased again and further went up due to fog.
The reason why air pollution comes down during rains experts pointed out, dust gets heavy in showers and does not fly in the air. The vehicular pollution also gets down as tyres could not lead to flying of pollutants and dust in air, as it settles down on ground. It is the reason why pollution levels come down during rains.
Officials said, apart from the damaged roads, flying dust from vehicles and increase in construction activities after showers leads to increase in the pollution levels.
Besides, bonfires during winters lead to air pollution. Pollution levels come down during rains but go up after it due to damaged roads and other activities and burning of bonfires make it worse.
Experts pointed out that apart from local factors like people burning tyres and plastic during cold nights that lead to pollution levels going up, weather also plays a role in the air quality.
Meteorological department, Bhopal circle officials said, during this time of the year winds from Punjab and Delhi blow over the state due to which the air quality index of MP cities could go up to 20 per cent. Second reason is that air pollutants come closer when the temperature falls. From the mid troposphere, it comes to the low troposphere, which leads to an increase in pollution levels. Air quality is measured taking into account the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (Nox), RSPM10 and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air. Of the four, officials said, PM2.5 is the most harmful to health and causes severe lung diseases. PM 10 is due to dust, construction, including building of roads while PM2.5 is due to dust, human activity and climatic conditions.
Meteorological department, Bhopal circle senior scientist Ved Prakash Singh said, fog and air quality complement each other.Fog directly impacts the air quality, as it leads to trapping at the lower levels. If the fog would be intense, AQI would be more. It is a deadlock, which is broken by rain or clear sunlight, he added. Showers in November did wonders for the air quality of cities, which came down from very poor to satisfactory and moderate levels. The air quality index of Bhopal and other cities that received showers last week on November 27 and November 28 came below 100. But it increased again and further went up due to fog.
The reason why air pollution comes down during rains experts pointed out, dust gets heavy in showers and does not fly in the air. The vehicular pollution also gets down as tyres could not lead to flying of pollutants and dust in air, as it settles down on ground. It is the reason why pollution levels come down during rains.
Officials said, apart from the damaged roads, flying dust from vehicles and increase in construction activities after showers leads to increase in the pollution levels.
Besides, bonfires during winters lead to air pollution. Pollution levels come down during rains but go up after it due to damaged roads and other activities and burning of bonfires make it worse.
Experts pointed out that apart from local factors like people burning tyres and plastic during cold nights that lead to pollution levels going up, weather also plays a role in the air quality.
Meteorological department, Bhopal circle officials said, during this time of the year winds from Punjab and Delhi blow over the state due to which the air quality index of MP cities could go up to 20 per cent. Second reason is that air pollutants come closer when the temperature falls. From the mid troposphere, it comes to the low troposphere, which leads to an increase in pollution levels. Air quality is measured taking into account the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (Nox), RSPM10 and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air. Of the four, officials said, PM2.5 is the most harmful to health and causes severe lung diseases. PM 10 is due to dust, construction, including building of roads while PM2.5 is due to dust, human activity and climatic conditions.
