The national capital's air quality improved marginally on Wednesday due to favourable meteorological conditions, but was still in the "poor" category.
The central government's Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi said "fire counts" reduced in Punjab (around 2,400) on Tuesday, but were "still significantly high and are likely to impact the air quality in Delhi-NCR and northwest India".
The share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution had dropped to 10 per cent on Tuesday due to a change in the wind direction. The city recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 279 at 10 am as wind speed picked up.
The 24-hour average AQI was 302 on Tuesday. It was 293 on Monday and 364 on Sunday.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate",201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said the share of stubble burning accounted for 16 per cent of Delhi's pollution on Monday and 40 per cent on Sunday, the maximum so far this season.
It was 32 per cent on Saturday, 19 per cent on Friday and 36 per cent on Thursday.
Last year, the farm fire contribution to Delhi's pollution had peaked to 44 per cent on November 1, according to SAFAR data.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the maximum wind speed was 15 kilometers per hour on Wednesday.
The city recorded a minimum temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius. Calm winds and low temperatures trap pollutants close to the ground, while favourable wind speed helps in their dispersion.
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the city's ventilation index a product of mixing depth and average wind speed was expected to be around 9,5000 metre square per second on Wednesday favourable for dispersion of pollutants.
Mixing depth is the vertical height in which pollutants are suspended in the air. It reduces on cold days with calm wind speed.
A ventilation index lower than 6,000 sqm/second, with the average wind speed less than 10 kmph, is unfavourable for dispersal of pollutants.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU