The images accessed by India Press Live were captured at 2:18 pm and farm fires were visible in the Maxar imagery.
New Delhi:
Delhi and its nearby areas are covered in smog, and the air quality is still very poor. The fourth stage of anti-pollution measures will remain in effect for three days as there is no sign of relief expected soon.
Various factors contribute to Delhi’s poor air quality, including construction, vehicular pollution in the city, and stubble burning by farmers in Punjab and Haryana. While the Central Air Quality Management (CAQM) has praised Punjab for reducing cases of stubble burning in the state, scientist Hiren Jethva at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center disagrees. He told India Press Live that farmers are timing stubble burning to avoid detection by NASA satellites, leading to a significant undercount of the fires. Exclusive satellite images accessed by India Press Live seem to confirm this observation.
Satellite Images Of Punjab Farm Fires
India Press Live obtained satellite images of a small area west of Amritsar to assess the extent of farm fires on November 18 at 2:18 pm. These images may resemble a war zone, but the smoke is actually from farmers burning their agricultural stubble. The red circles on the images indicate the locations of the farm fires in a small area west of the Amritsar airport.
Experts analyzing the satellite imagery counted at least 26 separate farm fires in the northern and western regions of Amritsar on November 18, shortly after NASA’s fire-detecting satellites had passed over the subcontinent.
A closer look at an image of a farm fire west of the Amritsar airport reveals a significant amount of smoke emanating from a single fire that burns for several hours, contributing to poor air quality and reduced visibility in the area.
On November 18, flight operations at Amritsar Airport were affected due to poor visibility caused by smog, turning the Indo-Gangetic plain belt, which includes Delhi and its surrounding areas, into a gas chamber.
NASA Data
The yellow box near Amritsar marks the location of the satellite images accessed by India Press Live. The red dots represent farm fires detected by NASA World View sensors, data from which is widely used in India. The fire sensor data was collected at 2:18 pm on November 18, coinciding with the time when other satellites, except NASA’s, passed over the region.
These images seem to validate the severe undercount of farm fires in Punjab, which significantly contribute to the air pollution during this time of the year when farmers burn their agricultural stubble.
Thermal Inversion – Another Key Factor
Thermal inversion plays a major role in the sudden increase in dense smog and pollution levels. Mr. Jethva explained that warmer air sitting above cooler air on the ground prevents vertical mixing of pollutants. Pollutants emitted at the surface remain trapped within the boundary layer, leading to increased pollution levels.
Smoke from crop burning mixed with clouds or above them exacerbates thermal inversion by absorbing light-absorbing aerosols and warming the upper layer, further enhancing thermal inversion. The particulate matter acts as cloud condensation nuclei, promoting fog formation when temperatures drop.