Seasonal fires and a slew of air pollutants are obscuring skies across northern India, registering “very unhealthy” air quality in New Delhi and causing schools to shut down. Advisories recommend residents avoid spending time outside in the city, which has experienced toxic smog from around the beginning of November.
“The smoke has gone all over to the Bay of Bengal,” said Hiren Jethva, an aerosol scientist at Morgan State University and NASA. So far, the fire activity is lagging behind other years, but he said “this many fires are still sufficient to create the air quality issue in the vicinity of the burning region.”
The air quality index in New Delhi for PM2.5 — a particularly hazardous pollutant known as particulate matter 2.5 — reached 285 or “very unhealthy” on Thursday, which is the second most severe level, according to data from the U.S. Embassy. These tiny pollutants, spanning one-thirtieth of the width of a human hair, can travel into our lungs and bloodstream to cause heart disease or lung cancer.
This dip in air quality, especially around New Delhi, occurs every year in the months ahead of winter. Every November, farmers in northwestern India burn off excess paddy straw after rice harvest to clear the land for the next crop — a practice known as stubble burning. The smoke spreads across the region, including the country’s biggest city New Delhi, which is home to almost 35 million people.
The level of smoke pollution is due to “farm fires in the northwest, particularly two states in Punjab and Haryana,” said Jethva, although he said fire activity in Haryana is less this year. “It happens every year.”
The crop fires add to a mix of other hazardous pollution sources in the area, including vehicles, industrial activities and fires for heating and cooking. Dust coming from the Thar Desert to the west can also pollute skies.
1 comment
Seasonal fires and a slew of air pollutants are obscuring skies across northern India, registering “very unhealthy” air quality in New Delhi and causing schools to shut down. Advisories recommend residents avoid spending time outside in the city, which has experienced toxic smog from around the beginning of November.
“The smoke has gone all over to the Bay of Bengal,” said Hiren Jethva, an aerosol scientist at Morgan State University and NASA. So far, the fire activity is lagging behind other years, but he said “this many fires are still sufficient to create the air quality issue in the vicinity of the burning region.”
The air quality index in New Delhi for PM2.5 — a particularly hazardous pollutant known as particulate matter 2.5 — reached 285 or “very unhealthy” on Thursday, which is the second most severe level, according to data from the U.S. Embassy. These tiny pollutants, spanning one-thirtieth of the width of a human hair, can travel into our lungs and bloodstream to cause heart disease or lung cancer.
This dip in air quality, especially around New Delhi, occurs every year in the months ahead of winter. Every November, farmers in northwestern India burn off excess paddy straw after rice harvest to clear the land for the next crop — a practice known as stubble burning. The smoke spreads across the region, including the country’s biggest city New Delhi, which is home to almost 35 million people.
The level of smoke pollution is due to “farm fires in the northwest, particularly two states in Punjab and Haryana,” said Jethva, although he said fire activity in Haryana is less this year. “It happens every year.”
The crop fires add to a mix of other hazardous pollution sources in the area, including vehicles, industrial activities and fires for heating and cooking. Dust coming from the Thar Desert to the west can also pollute skies.
**Read more, free with email registration:** [**https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/11/09/india-air-quality-smog-new-delhi/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/11/09/india-air-quality-smog-new-delhi/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)