Open AccessAir Quality in Six Northern Indian Cities During Diwali 2020: The Real Tragedy in Disguise
Author(s) -
Alfred J. Lawrence,
Akriti Abraham,
Fedaa Ali,
Salma Arif,
Sadaf Fatima,
Urooj Fatima,
Tahmeena Khan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asian journal of chemistry/asian journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.145
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 0975-427X
pISSN - 0970-7077
DOI - 10.14233/ajchem.2021.23102
Subject(s) - air quality index , covid-19 , variation (astronomy) , meteorology , relative humidity , environmental science , new delhi , geography , socioeconomics , toxicology , atmospheric sciences , archaeology , geology , biology , economics , medicine , physics , disease , pathology , astrophysics , infectious disease (medical specialty) , metropolitan area
North Indian cities have been highly polluted, especially in winters, which coincide with the Diwalifestival. This year, the government imposed ban on the burning of firecrackers. This study wasundertaken from 4th-21st November, 2020 to monitor the air quality variation with respect to PM10 andPM2.5 for Delhi, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Greater Noida and Bulandshahar cities duringand post Diwali period, to know whether there was any impact of the warnings. The hourly variationsin the AQI were very poor between 8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. on Diwali day. Significant short term variationin the AQI was observed during the night. A weak positive correlation was obtained between thetemperature and AQI, whereas a negative relationship was established with humidity. As compared tolast year’s AQI, higher values were obtained this year. The short-term variation in air quality mayprove crucial in future in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.