The country capital which was in the ‘severe’ category for six consecutive days, recorded a small improvement as "not so calm surface wind" flushed out pollutants, said the Ministry of Earth Science's air quality monitor, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city recorded at 326 (‘very poor’ category) at 6 am on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
The concentrations of the particulate matter (PM) with a diameter of 10 and 2.5 microns standing at 285 (‘poor’ category) and 154 (‘very poor’ category) micrograms per cubic respectively, SAFAR said. PM2.5 level stood at 326 in the area around Delhi University (North Campus), 318 in Pusa, 322 in Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal 3), 312 in IIT Delhi, 355 in Mathura Road, and 308 in Aya Nagar, all falling in the ‘very poor’ category. Lodhi Road recorded poor air quality with an AQI of 269.
The air quality in adjoining Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Gurugram in Haryana, in the National Capital Region (NCR), stood in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ categories respectively. In Noida, the concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 clocked at 349 and 387, in the ‘very poor’ zone respectively. Gurugram, recorded cleaner air with PM10 and PM2.5 levels standing at 160 (‘moderate’ category) and 297 (‘poor’ category) respectively.
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