While the overall AQI of the city was between moderate and poor through the day, Colaba in South Mumbai, recorded “very poor” AQI at 308. (File/Amit Chakravarty) A WEEK after unseasonal rain in the city, an increase in the pollution level was recorded on Wednesday. An Air Quality Index (AQI) of 208 was recorded in the morning, which falls in the “poor” category. However, by evening, the AQI had slightly improved and was less than 200. For the past week, the AQI has been moderate, i.e., falling between 100 and 200, as per the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) classification.
While the overall AQI of the city was between moderate and poor through the day, Colaba in South Mumbai, recorded “very poor” AQI at 308. In comparison, areas further interior in both the eastern and western suburbs of the city recorded “moderate” Air Quality — Bhandup- 98, Borivali and Andheri 169.
In Mumbai, a coastal city, the AQI is greatly affected by weather parameters irrespective of human-induced emissions. A rise in wind speed and an increase and drop in temperature impact the air quality in the city. On Wednesday, there were only calm winds in the city, increasing the concentration of pollutants. “The drop in temperature coincided with calm winds. This reversal will continue during the winter season for a few weeks,” Dr Gufran Beig, founder-project director of SAFAR, said.
AQI is a mean of pollutants such as particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions as a single value. The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and health concern.
After recording near-normal temperatures since the start of the month, the city on Wednesday recorded above a normal maximum temperature. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded maximum temperature at 33.4 degrees Celsius, which was a degree above normal. The minimum temperature on Wednesday was two degrees above normal at 23.4 degrees Celsius.
According to the Met department, the partly cloudy sky will continue till December 14 in the city. The relative humidity dropped slight on Wednesday from over 80% to 63% on Wednesday morning.
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