A rare triple-dip La-Nina event, prolonged by climate change, set off a unique trend in the winter of 2022–2023, where air quality improved in north India while pollution levels increased in peninsular India.

The unusual "triple-dip" event of three years in a row of La Niña conditions (2020–23) has a global influence on the ocean and climate.

A team of scientists led by Gufran Beig, Chair Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, conducted a study that highlighted the importance of quickly changing climate in relation to air quality, in addition to local emissions.

The study, which was published in the Elsevier Journal, shows that, in contrast to previous decades, the air quality in Indian cities on the peninsula deteriorated during the winter of 2022–2023 while improving in the country's north.

Among the north Indian cities, Ghaziabad recorded the most noteworthy improvement with a drop of 33 per cent, followed by Rohtak (30 per cent) and Noida (28 per cent). Delhi exhibited an improvement of around 10 per cent.

However, with a 30 per cent increase in PM2.5 levels, Mumbai saw the worst degradation, followed by other Indian peninsula cities like Coimbatore (28 per cent), Bengaluru (20 per cent), Chennai (12 per cent), etc.

Several North Indian cities almost surpassed the five-year-long target set under the National Clean Air Programme in no time. What caused this had been a puzzle, said the researchers.

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"The winter of 2022-23 coincided with the last phase of an unusual triple-dip La Niña event, the first in the 21st century. This phenomenon, influenced by climate change, impacted the large-scale wind pattern, playing a decisive role in preventing stagnation conditions in north Indian cities and thus improving air quality," said R H Kripalani, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and co-author of the report.

On the contrary, he said that it brought calmer conditions to Indian towns on the peninsula, hastened transboundary pollution, and dramatically worsened the quality of the air.

"The dominance of higher northerly winds at the transport level forced an influx, along with relatively slower winds near the surface, trapping pollutants in peninsular India and increasing PM2.5 concentration. Conversely, feeble western disturbances, unique wind patterns, and the absence of rain, clouds, and faster ventilation led to a significant improvement in air quality in the north," Kripalani said.

The scientists used the recently created cutting-edge NIAS-SAFAR air quality forecasting model, which blends a chemical transport model with a contemporary artificial intelligence algorithm created locally, to validate their theory.

"Our findings are vindicated as the air quality in the winter of 2023-24, when La Nina ended, returned to normal levels," Beig said.

"The findings of the current paper suggest that we need to wake up to the fact that extreme and unusual occurrences in air pollution phenomena are directly or indirectly manifestations of climate change," he said.

"Such revelations, in all probability, are set to increase by leaps and bounds unless we focus on a long-term strategy to reduce the menace of anthropogenic emissions directly at the source. That would be a win-win situation for both air quality and climate change," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

A rare triple-dip La-Nina event, prolonged by climate change, set off a unique trend in the winter of 2022–2023, where air quality improved in north India while pollution levels increased in peninsular India.

A rare triple-dip La-Nina event, prolonged by climate change, set off a unique trend in the winter of 2022–2023, where air quality improved in north India while pollution levels increased in peninsular India. The unusual "triple-dip" event of three years in a row of La Niña conditions (2020–23) has a global influence on the ocean and climate. A team of scientists led by Gufran Beig, Chair Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, conducted a study that highlighted the importance of quickly changing climate in relation to air quality, in addition to local emissions. The study, which was published in the Elsevier Journal, shows that, in contrast to previous decades, the air quality in Indian cities on the peninsula deteriorated during the winter of 2022–2023 while improving in the country's north. Among the north Indian cities, Ghaziabad recorded the most noteworthy improvement with a drop of 33 per cent, followed by Rohtak (30 per cent) and Noida (28 per cent). Delhi exhibited an improvement of around 10 per cent. However, with a 30 per cent increase in PM2.5 levels, Mumbai saw the worst degradation, followed by other Indian peninsula cities like Coimbatore (28 per cent), Bengaluru (20 per cent), Chennai (12 per cent), etc. Several North Indian cities almost surpassed the five-year-long target set under the National Clean Air Programme in no time. What caused this had been a puzzle, said the researchers. Also read: Iran’s Quds chief visited Iraq and asked allied militias to halt attacks on US: Report "The winter of 2022-23 coincided with the last phase of an unusual triple-dip La Niña event, the first in the 21st century. This phenomenon, influenced by climate change, impacted the large-scale wind pattern, playing a decisive role in preventing stagnation conditions in north Indian cities and thus improving air quality," said R H Kripalani, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and co-author of the report. On the contrary, he said that it brought calmer conditions to Indian towns on the peninsula, hastened transboundary pollution, and dramatically worsened the quality of the air. "The dominance of higher northerly winds at the transport level forced an influx, along with relatively slower winds near the surface, trapping pollutants in peninsular India and increasing PM2.5 concentration. Conversely, feeble western disturbances, unique wind patterns, and the absence of rain, clouds, and faster ventilation led to a significant improvement in air quality in the north," Kripalani said. The scientists used the recently created cutting-edge NIAS-SAFAR air quality forecasting model, which blends a chemical transport model with a contemporary artificial intelligence algorithm created locally, to validate their theory. "Our findings are vindicated as the air quality in the winter of 2023-24, when La Nina ended, returned to normal levels," Beig said. "The findings of the current paper suggest that we need to wake up to the fact that extreme and unusual occurrences in air pollution phenomena are directly or indirectly manifestations of climate change," he said. "Such revelations, in all probability, are set to increase by leaps and bounds unless we focus on a long-term strategy to reduce the menace of anthropogenic emissions directly at the source. That would be a win-win situation for both air quality and climate change," he said. (With inputs from agencies)

Rare ‘triple-dip’ La Nina event behind unusually good air quality in India in 2022-23, says study

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recently submitted the Mumbai Clean Air Plan to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). However, the city-based environmental groups believe that it lacks coherent solutions that could alleviate environmental woes.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recently submitted the Mumbai Clean Air Plan to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). However, the city-based environmental groups believe that it lacks coherent solutions that could alleviate environmental woes. While Delhi had been struggling last month to get air quality markers under control, the entire conundrum around the need for clean air grew louder. Mumbai which often breathes a sigh of relief in this regard considering proximity to the sea and adequate rainfall has not fared too well on the pollution measuring indicators recently. The air quality index in the island city has been hovering at 'poor' and 'very poor.' In January this year, the Ministry of Earth sciences launched the National Clean Air Programme, a strategy to tackle increasing air pollution in a time-bound manner. Under the same plan, Mumbai is among one of 122 cities identified by the CPCB to scale down air pollution by 20% to 30%. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) plan for the city was submitted last month, with a slew of measures it believes will help Mumbai breathe clean air. Some of them are the introduction of a congestion tax on private vehicles, the introduction of a 'clean air fund,' converting city's BEST buses into AC buses, two and four wheelers to be charged more for fuel and parking to encourage public transport. Lowering of fuel charges for public transport to slash bus fares and subsequently recovering losses from car-users. Increasing road tax from existing 10% to 25%. In a day-long consultation seminar organised this week by Mumbai based environment protection organisations, in the presence of members of the civil society, activists and several like-minded individuals a detailed discussion on various aspects of pollution missing in MPCB's plan took place. A detailed copy of recommendations will soon be presented to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and pollution control body in the state. Conversation Action Trust and Waatavaran, two of the organising members gave an array of suggestions ranging from transport emissions, industrial emissions, emphasis on the protection of existing green zones, airshed based approach to manage air pollution. The recommendations of the public consultation were broadly divided into Transport, Data, Industry and Construction/demolition waste and biomass burning. Debi Goenka, founder and executive trustee- Conservation Action Trust said, "the plan that has been presented is not authentic in nature, there are quotations from unknown people. The plan of action is completely vague, no individual on whom responsibility can be fixed the entire document is not implementable. For example, a section in the plan talks about consequences of industrial pollution in case of a violation, the comment section says 'MPCB issues show-cause notices,' there is no strict action that follows up." Members at the congregation expressed displeasure that non of them had been asked for suggestions while the plan was being drafted, in fact their inputs on the same have not been included in the document. Further, a detailed suggestion on improvising existing public transport by opting for an integrated approach to address mobility by building walking and cycling infrastructure to restrain private transport growth. We live in the times of data analytics, however, the plan doesn't give clarity on the total number of monitoring stations and where they will be made. Need for data from the Continuous Emission Monitoring System to be made public for accountability of industry was also raised. Industry centric solutions upheld the need to make industries accountable for their carbon footprint, necessitating the state pollution control board to deal with violations with an iron hand. Over the years Mumbai city has seen large scale infrastructure projects cropping up in every corner, the state pollution control board needs to regulate the process of construction and demolition with builders and infra companies. Bulk emissions cause unprecedented toxic pollution which needs to be addressed. While the situation in Mumbai may not seem alarming at the moment, the clock is already ticking with regards to climate change and pollutions levels in the city. National Institute of Oceanography data reveals that the average rate at which sea level is rising has more than doubled in India from 1.27 mm/year to 3.22 mm/year in just over a decade. A worrying data because much of the infrastructure here is built on reclaimed land. In October this year, a British journal in its research report published potential dangers of climate change Mumbai is staring at, indicating that anthropogenic climatic alterations will deluge sizeable parts of the city by 2050. As per global environmental reports, Mumbai along with Guangzhou, Jakarta, Manila and Miami appears frequently on a list of cities endangered by climate change. A serious effort from the governing body is the most immediate need of the hour.

Maharashtra Pollution Control body's report lacks coherent solutions: Experts

Indian govt unveils National Clean Air Programme to combat air pollution

The Environment Ministry is likely to come out with its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes multiple strategies to combat air pollution, next month, a top environment ministry official said Thursday.&nbsp;

This comes as the air quality in the national capital deteriorated to the "very poor" category.

The key components of the NCAP include city-specific air pollution abatement action plans for 100 polluting cities of the country, increasing the number of monitoring stations, data dissemination, public participation on planning and implementation.

"We are going to come out with NCAP next month," a top official told PTI.&nbsp;

Greenpeace India said in a statement that an Environment Ministry official had also given a presentation regarding this at a conference on air pollution and health by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.&nbsp;

Although the top Environment Ministry official confirmed that an Indian delegation took part in the meet, he, however, could not give details about the presentation.&nbsp;

Greenpeace India said while presenting on air pollution, Environment Deputy Secretary Satyendra Kumar assured that the country would have a comprehensive, time-bound and target reduction plan by December 2018.&nbsp;

The green body said the acknowledgement that air pollution is causing a health emergency at the international platform by the Environment Ministry is a good thing but a lot of time has been wasted to acknowledge it.&nbsp;

"After the Environment Ministry MoEFCC presentation, I want to believe that now Dr Harsh Vardhan and Environment Ministry will enforce the National Clean Air Programme without any further delay," Sunil Dahiya, senior air pollution campaigner, Greenpeace India, said.&nbsp;

"The programme has been in discussion since October last year and despite coming up with a draft plan in April 2018, the ministry continues to sit on it," he added.

Dahiya said despite knowing all the polluting sources, from industries, power plants and transport systems to episodic events like stubble burning and Diwali, there seemed to be an absolute lack of synchronisation between the policies and their implementation.

"Even if the NCAP is enforced, its compliance is going to be a large bottleneck. Looking at how the public health emergency has been dealt with in the past years, the talks must translate into action.

"The way the Ministry have been shying away from announcing the clean air plan, we really anticipate an aggressive, time-bound and target-oriented NCAP to achieve clean air and a breathable India," he added.

The Environment Ministry is likely to come out with its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes multiple strategies to combat air pollution, next month, a top environment ministry official said Thursday.

The Environment Ministry is likely to come out with its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes multiple strategies to combat air pollution, next month, a top environment ministry official said Thursday. This comes as the air quality in the national capital deteriorated to the "very poor" category. The key components of the NCAP include city-specific air pollution abatement action plans for 100 polluting cities of the country, increasing the number of monitoring stations, data dissemination, public participation on planning and implementation. "We are going to come out with NCAP next month," a top official told PTI. Greenpeace India said in a statement that an Environment Ministry official had also given a presentation regarding this at a conference on air pollution and health by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. Although the top Environment Ministry official confirmed that an Indian delegation took part in the meet, he, however, could not give details about the presentation. Greenpeace India said while presenting on air pollution, Environment Deputy Secretary Satyendra Kumar assured that the country would have a comprehensive, time-bound and target reduction plan by December 2018. The green body said the acknowledgement that air pollution is causing a health emergency at the international platform by the Environment Ministry is a good thing but a lot of time has been wasted to acknowledge it. "After the Environment Ministry MoEFCC presentation, I want to believe that now Dr Harsh Vardhan and Environment Ministry will enforce the National Clean Air Programme without any further delay," Sunil Dahiya, senior air pollution campaigner, Greenpeace India, said. "The programme has been in discussion since October last year and despite coming up with a draft plan in April 2018, the ministry continues to sit on it," he added. Dahiya said despite knowing all the polluting sources, from industries, power plants and transport systems to episodic events like stubble burning and Diwali, there seemed to be an absolute lack of synchronisation between the policies and their implementation. "Even if the NCAP is enforced, its compliance is going to be a large bottleneck. Looking at how the public health emergency has been dealt with in the past years, the talks must translate into action. "The way the Ministry have been shying away from announcing the clean air plan, we really anticipate an aggressive, time-bound and target-oriented NCAP to achieve clean air and a breathable India," he added.

Environment Ministry likely to come out with 'National Clean Air Programme' next month