Centre for Science (CSE) and the scientists from the Department of Public Health Science, University of Miami have studied how pollution in Capital is blocking sunlight by absorbing it to prevent its reach to the ground.
In its latest study on the values of mass concentration of primary pollutants in city air, CSE has stated that a value of 0.01 corresponds to an extremely clean atmosphere while value of 0.4 would correspond to a hazy condition.
According to the report, average Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) for US is 0.1 to 0.15 while study claimed that AOD had improved a bit in Delhi during odd -even days.
Speaking with The Pioneer, Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE said with more implementation of such types of strategies, it can help more in reducing the mass concentration of pollutants in air. “In a view of public health factor, odd -even formula has worked well as people were in less exposure of the direct emission from vehicles,” Anumita added.
While talking about Delhi’s air AOD level, Krishan Kumar, Professor, Department of Environment Science said AOD level in Delhi is 0.5 or it can be above. “It is high in winter months from November to December while in February the AOD level goes down,” said the professor.
According to the Environment scientists, there is empirical relation between PM 2.5 and AOD and used to examine air quality surface, which further allow to examine the time — space dynamics of air pollution in Delhi.