भारतीय उष्णदेशीय मौसम विज्ञान संस्थान
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
पृथ्वी विज्ञान मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार का एक स्वायत्त संस्थान An Autonomous Institute of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India
Metropolitan Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Services
Objectives
Development of Early warning system to predict Air Quality and Weather for Indian metropolitan cities namely- “SAFAR” (System of Air quality and Weather Forecasting And Research). To investigate the role of air pollution and its impact on Human Health and Crop Yield.
Development of Chemical-transport modelling capability to understand the linkages of atmospheric Chemistry with weather and climate.
Development of improved high-resolution gridded national emission inventories.
Establishment of MAPAN (Modeling Air Pollution And Networking) –A national monitoring Network for atmospheric chemical parameters.
Investigating the role of carbonaceous species (black carbon, organic carbon, brown carbon, etc.).
About Us
Under the MoES Programmes “Atmospheric, Climate Science and Services”, a core programme “System of Air quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)” (http://safar.tropmet.res.in/) has been indigenously conceived, developed and commissioned by IITM, Pune. SAFAR is operational in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and soon will be made operational soon in Ahmedabad and provides site-specific detailed customized meteorological and air quality products and spreads awareness through large public display digital boards, News frames, toll-free telephones, SMS services, web portal and IVRS.
For Indian domain, a national network of “Modeling Air Pollution And Networking (MAPAN)” consisting of about 15 air quality and weather monitoring stations are setup all over India. MAPAN provides baseline data for broad input fields to regional air quality model for Indian domain, nested domain coarser resolution for SAFAR and investigate the role of anthropogenic versus long-range transport. The operational technology for air quality and automatic weather stations of SAFAR and MAPAN are sustainable against natural hazards as recently experienced during Hudhud cyclonic storms over Eastern coast (Vishakhapatnam).
This group continues to quantify the impact of chemical emissions on the distribution of trace gases regionally and also on other regions of the globe along with timing and location of long-range pollution transport events using 3-D global coupled modeling systems. Also, focuses on quantifying the impact of air quality on persistent winter fog formation, duration and dissipation in the Indo-Gangetic Plains including Delhi and variability of carboneous aerosols (black carbon and organic carbon) in glaciers.
In addition to achieving the aforementioned extensive developmental, operational and capacity buildings goals via SAFAR and MAPAN in accordance with mandate of sanctioned project objectives, data of air quality and weather parameters generated through these networks served the strategic hypotheses driven science plan which added significant dimension to the vision and mission of IITM and evidently reflected in terms of scientific publications in the refereed SCI Journals.
SYSTEM OF AIR QUALITY FORECASTING AND RESEARCH
SAFAR is a dedicated air quality information service for Indian Metropolitan Cities, developed to make India self sufficient in providing frontier research based scientific accredited robust air quality information in real time and its forecast.
National Certification: ISO 9001:2008 Accredited by Standard Certification Council-India
International Certification: World Meteorological Organization (United Nations) recognized
Air is a mixture of various gases, important for survival of human race and life on the Earth, in a fixed proportion it’s a life supporting system, but if the composition of air alters then elevated concentration of certain trace gases can lead to detrimental effects on human health, environment and other form of life. In view of current scenario of air pollution problem, the Ministry of Earth sciences commissioned an ambitious project namely SAFAR, which has been conceived, developed and implemented by its constituent. Currently SAFAR is operational in three major metro cities of India viz. Delhi (Since 2010), Pune (Since 2013) and Mumbai (Since 2015). It is planned to expand it for Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata in the current 5-yr plan period.
SAFAR system has integrated four scientific components: (1) Air Quality and weather monitoring; (2) Development of high resolution emission inventories (3) Developing Air Quality Forecasting Model (4) Translating data to information in public friendly format.
SAFAR Observational Network: 10 air quality parameters and 6 weather parameters have been monitored round the clock at strategically selected 10 locations spread across city area which represents different microenvironments including industrial, residential, background/ cleaner, urban complex, agricultural zones, urban down town area etc.
AIR QUALITY & WEATHER PARAMETERS OBSERVED & FORECASTED:
PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, NOx (NO+NO2), CO2, Black Carbon, Benzene, Toulene, and Xylene.
Emission Inventory Development: High resolution (1km *1km) emission inventories have been developed using GIS (Geographical Information System) based statistical model which keeps accounting of various air pollution sources within the city area including Biofuel & Fossil fuel burning in thermal power plants, industries, transport, residential, slum sector, windblown dust from paved and unpaved roads, emissions from crematories etc. This process is input for 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport models.
Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Model: Setting up state of the art Atmospheric Chemistry Transport Model (ACTM) to forecast the air quality of various pollutants along with weather parameters with inner domain of 1.67 km x 1.67 km resolution. High Performance Computer consist of multiprocessor with high storage capacity is used for running the ACTM which simulates forecast.
SAFAR Products- Translate Data to Information:
AIR QUALITY: Current & 1-3 days’ advance forecast with associated health advisories in terms of Air Quality Index (*AQI)
HARMFUL RADIATION : Severity of UV radiation with associated skin advisories in terms of UV Index (*UVI)
WEATHER: Current & 1-3 days’ advance forecast
EXTREME EVENTS: Alert for extreme pollution event & weather event
EMISSION SCENARIO: Identify air pollution hot spots at city level, useful for mitigation planning.
Public interface & dissemination tools:
SAFAR-Master: One stop shop to know air quality information for all SAFAR Metropolis in the country on digital media at one place located in IITM, Pune .
All the raw data monitored at various locations is transferred to SAFAR –Master, a Digital Control Centre of SAFAR from where after rigorous quality assurance and quality checks data is converted to useful information products and disseminated to maximum stakeholders through following dissemination tools
SAFAR Query Response Service is available at E-mail safar@tropmet.res.in
SAFAR- Decision Support System: Major Beneficiaries are Health Sector, Local Executive Agencies like corporations, Disaster Management Unit, Environment Department, Educational Institutes, Research Community, and Common Citizens.
Modelling Air Pollution and Networking(MAPAN):
Project Details
Major Achievements:
System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)-Delhi was dedicated to Nation during Common Wealth Games- 2010.
System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)-Pune was dedicated to Nation on 31st March 2015 for Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) which includes Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad cities.
System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)-Mumbai was dedicated to Nation on 23rd June 2015 for the MUMBAI METROPILOTAN REGION (SAFAR-Mumbai). Under the project SAFAR-Mumbai network of 10 Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) has been established across Greater Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.
Development of SAFAR-Ahmadabad is in progress: The initial planning and discussion related with implementation of SFAR project for Ahmedabad and Ganghinagar Twin cities has been initiated. Preliminary survey has been conducted in Ahmedabad for identification of suitable location for installation of Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) and Automatic Weather Station (AWS). MOU has been signed with the Space Application Centre (SAC), Indian Space Research Organization, Dept of Space (Govt. of India), Ahmadabad for scientific cooperation in the project SAFAR-Ahmadabad.
System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (SAFAR) provided scientifically & technically assistance to Rajasthan Government in developing Air Quality MobileApp "RajVayu". Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje dedicated it to nation for sharing information about current air quality index and weather information of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur on the eve of World Environmental Day, 4th June 2016. Details about the air quality, such as levels of pollutants likes Particulate Matter, SOx, NOx, CO, Ozone, temperature, humidity, wind speed, weather forecast and advisories will be shared with the city residents and tourists.
ISO 9001:2008 certification to SAFAR: SAFAR (System of Air Quality & Weather Forecasting and Research) India’s first Air Quality Forecasting System, project of ESSO-IITM awarded an ISO 9001:2008 certification from Standard Certification Council of India.
Important Results:
Air quality simulation over South Asia using Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution version-2 (HTAP-v2) emission inventory and Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers 3 (MOZART-4)
Distribution of tropospheric ozone (O3) and its precursors are presented for the South Asia using the Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers (MOZART-4) and Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution version-2 (HTAP-v2) emission inventory. The model simulated O3, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are evaluated against surface-based, balloon-borne and satellite-based (MOPITT and OMI) observations. The model systematically overestimates surface O3 mixing ratios (range of mean bias about: 1-30 ppbv) at different ground-based measurement sites in India. Comparison between simulated and observed vertical profiles of ozone shows a positive bias from the surface up to 600 hPa and a negative bias above 600 hPa. The simulated seasonal variation in surface CO mixing ratio is consistent with the surface observations, but has a negative bias of about 50-200 ppb which can be attributed to a large part to the coarse model resolution. In contrast to the surface evaluation, the model shows a high bias of about 15-20×1017 molecules/cm2 over South Asia when compared to satellite derived CO columns from the MOPITT instrument. The model also overestimates OMI retrieved tropospheric column NO2 abundance by about 100-250×1013 molecules/cm2. A response to 20% reduction in all anthropogenic emissions over South Asia shows a decrease in the annual mean O3 mixing ratios by about 3-12 ppb, CO by about 10-80 ppb and NOX by about 3-6 ppb at the surface level. During summer monsoon, O3 mixing ratios at 200 hPa show a decrease of about 6-12 ppb over South Asia and about 1-4 ppb over the remote northern hemispheric western Pacific region. [Surendran D.E., Ghude S.D., Beig G., Emmons L.K., Jena C., Rajesh Kumar, Pfister G.G., Chate D.M., Air quality simulation over South Asia using Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution version-2 (HTAP-v2) emission inventory and Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers (MOZART-4), Atmospheric Environment, 122, December 2015, DOI:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.023, 357-372]
Fig. 1. Comparison between modeled(MOZART) and observed surface ozone and CO
Inter-comparison of different NOX emission inventories and associated variation in simulated surface ozone in Indian region
For the first time, different anthropogenic NOX emission inventories are compared and examined for variations in simulated surface ozone (O3) in India. Six anthropogenic NOx emission inventories namely Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-Phase B (INTEX-B), Regional Emission Inventory in Asia (REAS), MACCity, Indian National Emission Inventory (India-NOx), and Top-Down NOX emission inventory for India (Top-Down) are included in the comparison. These emission inventories are included in regional chemical transport model WRF-Chem to simulate tropospheric column NO2 and surface O3 mixing ratios for the month of summer (15 March to 15 April) and winter (December) in 2005. Predicted tropospheric NO2 using different NOx emission inventories is evaluated with the OMI satellite observations. All emission inventories show similar spatial features, however, uncertainty in NOx emissions distribution is about 20-50% over rural regions and about 60-160% over the major point sources. Compared to OMI, the largest bias in simulated tropospheric NO2 columns is seen in the REAS (-243.0 ± 338.8×1013 molecules cm-2) emission inventory, followed by EDGAR (-199.1 ± 272.2×1013 molecules cm-2), MACCity (-150.5 ± 236.3×1013 molecules cm-2), INTEX-B (-96.8 ± 199.5×1013 molecules cm-2), India-NOx (-87.7 ± 159.9×1013 molecules cm-2) and Top-Down (-30.8 ± 69.6×1013 molecules cm-2) inventories during winter. Simulations using different NOX emission inventories produces maximum deviation in daytime 8-h averaged O3 of the order of 9-17 ppb (15-40%) in summer and 3-12 ppb (5-25%) in winter over most of the land area. choice of NOx emission inventories has significant effect on surface O3 concentration for air quality studies over India. [Jena C., Ghude S.D., Beig G., Chate D.M., Kumar R., Pfister G.G., Lal D.M., Surendran D.E., Fadnavis S., Van der A R.J., Inter-comparison of different NOX emission inventories and associated variation in simulated surface ozone in Indian region, Atmospheric Environment, 117, September 2015, DOI:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.06.057, 61-73]
Fig. 2. Spatial distribution NOX emissions from optimized Top-Down inventory (emission unit is 1011 NO molecules/cm2/s) for winter, pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon
seasons. Seasons are mentioned on top of the each panel.
Project Highlight
Sensitivity of online coupled model to extreme pollution event over a mega city Delhi
Sensitivity of interactive Weather-Chemistry model has been examined to predict the air quality (1 and 3 days in advance) of Indian mega city Delhi during two identical extreme events of Diwali in 2012 and 2013. Analysis is conducted 3 days prior to 3 days later of Diwali day for both events to verify the rapid changes in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) due to widespread display of Diwali fireworks. The model successfully predicted the variability in PM2.5 during 2012 for the entire period of analysis with reasonable accuracy. Although model performed reasonably well until Diwali day in 2013 but it was unable to simulate rapid built up of PM2.5 (1500 mg3 hourly average) during post Diwali day as it failed to capture unusual mid-night steep temperature gradient followed by a record lowering of boundary layer height. The predictability of the model and its limitation to micrometeorological processes are discussed in detail. [Srinivas R. et. al., Atmospheric Pollution Research, January 2016]
Fig. PM2.5 1D and 3D (one day and three day) forecast validation over Delhi (a) Diwali-2012 (b) Diwali-2013.
Recent Publications
Rathod A., Beig G., Impact of biomass induced black carbon particles in cascading COVID-19, Urban Climate, 38: 100913, July 2022, DOI:10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100913, 1-7 (Impact Factor 5.731)
Latha R., Mukherjee A., Dahiya K., Bano S., Pawar P., Kalbande R., Maji S., Beig G., Murthy B.S., On the varied emission fingerprints of particulate matter over typical locations of NCR (Delhi) – A perspective for mitigation plans, Journal of Environmental Management, 311: 114834, June 2022, DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114834, 1-12 (Impact Factor 6.789)
Panicker A.S., Shaima N., Climatology and Trends in Aerosol Optical Properties over Different Emission Regions in India. , Pure and Applied Geophysics, Online, May 2022, Doi:10.1007/s00024-022-03032-w, 1-13 (Impact Factor 2.335)
Yadav R., Beig G., Anand V., Kalbande R., Maji S., Tracer-based characterization of source variations of ambient isoprene mixing ratios in a hillocky megacity, India, influenced by the local meteorology, Environmental Research, 205: 112465, April 2022, DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2021.112465, 1-13 (Impact Factor 6.498)
Sandeep K., Panicker A.S., Gautam A.S., Beig G., Gandhi N., Sanjeev S., Shankar R., Naniwal H.C., Black carbon over a high altitude Central Himalayan Glacier: Variability, transport, and radiative impacts, Environmental Research, 204: 112017, March 2022, DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2021.112017, 1-11 (Impact Factor 6.498)
Korhale N., Anand V., Panicker A., Beig G., Measurements of surface ozone and its precursors in different microenvironments of coastal Indian metropolis of Mumbai, International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, Online, January 2022, DOI:10.1007/s13762-022-03910-9, 1-18 (Impact Factor 2.860)
Team
Project: Metropolitan Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Services Admin Incharge SAFAR Project: Dr. B.S. Murthy, Scientist-F
Dr. B. S. Murthy Scientist-F, Admin Incharge SAFAR Project
Air–sea–land interactions, Thunderstorm dynamics
murthy[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904341 View profile
Dr. Sachin Ghude Scientist-F
Aerosol studies, Trace gas measurement
sachinghude[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904494 View profile
Dr. R. Latha Scientist-D
Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics & pollution
latha[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904348 View profile
Dr. Abhilash Panicker Scientist-E
Aerosols-radiative and cloud interaction studies
panicker[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904255 View profile
Smt. Sompriti Debroy Scientist-C
sompriti[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904310
Shri. H. K. Trimbake Technician Gr. F
trimbake[at]tropmet[dot]res[dot]in
Phone No - +91-(0)20-25904215 View profile
MAPAN
For Indian domain, a national network of “Modeling Air Pollution And Networking (MAPAN)” consisting of about 15 air quality and weather monitoring stations are setup all over India. MAPAN provides baseline data for broad input fields to regional air quality model for Indian domain, nested domain coarser resolution for SAFAR and investigate the role of anthropogenic versus long-range transport. The operational technology for air quality and automatic weather stations of SAFAR and MAPAN are sustainable against natural hazards as recently experienced during Hudhud cyclonic storms over Eastern coast (Vishakhapatnam).
This group continues to quantify the impact of chemical emissions on the distribution of trace gases regionally and also on other regions of the globe along with timing and location of long-range pollution transport events using 3-D global coupled modeling systems. Also, focuses on quantifying the impact of air quality on persistent winter fog formation, duration and dissipation in the Indo-Gangetic Plains including Delhi and variability of carboneous aerosols (black carbon and organic carbon) in glaciers.
In addition to achieving the aforementioned extensive developmental, operational and capacity buildings goals via SAFAR and MAPAN in accordance with mandate of sanctioned project objectives, data of air quality and weather parameters generated through these networks served the strategic hypotheses driven science plan which added significant dimension to the vision and mission of IITM and evidently reflected in terms of scientific publications in the refereed SCI Journals.
Achievements
Year 2018 Achievements:
SAFAR-AQMS at highly urbanized location in Delhi: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble union minister of S&T, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forecast and Climate Change has unveiled an air quality monitoring and forecasting station for the benefit of the citizens of one of the most crowded locations of Delhi in Chandani Chowk near Town Hall which will also monition PM1, Hg and UV-radiations, in addition to routine air pollutants and weather parameters.
Emission Inventory Campaign Delhi-2018: Around 75 days long emission inventory campaign involving around 140 students completed to map all possible local sources of air pollution with around 37,500 hours of work. This base data from 26 different ground level activity sources will now be used to develop the final product with 500 m x 500m high-resolution gridded emission inventory of all important air pollutants (like PM2.5, PM10, NOx, CO, SO2, BC, HC) using the GIS based statistical model developed by IITM for Delhi. Initial analysis indicates that bio-fuel emissions in Slums have declined significantly due to usage of LPG by 95% of people in 2018 as compared to just 35% in 2010. The wood burning and kerosene consumption is found to be 3%, and 2% respectively.
Chemical Characterization of radicals of PM2.5 for Delhi: Using the Low Volume Sampler, filters have been exposed to determine the elementary composition of fine particulate matters around 35 different micro-environment where air quality monitoring stations run by DPCC, SAFAR and CPCB are located.
Multilingual and Voice enabled SAFAR-Air MobileApp: An upgraded version of Multilingual (Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, besides English) and Voice Enabled, SAFAR-Air MobileApp is released by Secretary, MoES on its Foundation Day 2018.
Air Quality Assessment of Patna: SAFAR provided scientific assistance to Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), Govt of Bihar on “Assessment of Air Quality of Patna in various Micro-environments” based on the scientific campaign carried out during 19 October - 28 November 2017 in Patna. A technical report based on this assessment was released during the Workshop on Air pollution in Patna on 9th May 2018 by Hon'ble Dy Chief Minister of Bihar.
SAFAR – AN ENVIRONMENTAL WARRIOR: A film based on SAFAR project was selected and screened under Competitive Category ‘A’ at the 8th National Science Film Festival (NSFF) held at the University of Guwahati, Guwahati during 20-24 February 2018.
ENVIS-IITM observed the World Environment Day on the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution” during 1-5 June 2018 in Delhi during emission inventory campaign. The ENVIS team of IITM along with Delhi based RP’s School of Planning and Architecture, WWF and Sulabh arranged a series of activities and event generating strong public interest and participation to combat plastic pollution in the surroundings. The objective of this celebration was to make younger generation more sensitive towards Beat plastic pollution. A mega event was arranged on the day of World Environment (5th June) which was presided by the Chief Economic Advisor of ENVIS secretariat, MoEF&CC.
A scientific Workshop on Air pollution and human health (APHH): A scientific assessment meeting to discuss the preliminary results of winter Indo-UK campaign has been organized by IITM in Delhi during 24-26 April 2018.
Year 2017 Achievements
SAFAR-Ahmedabad & Ahmedabad-AIR plan dedicated to the Nation: SAFAR-Ahmedabad an integrated early warning System of Air Quality, Weather and Health was dedicated to the Nation by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences along with several State Ministers and dignitaries on 12 May 2017 in Ahmedabad. With the advent of SAFAR, a new health action plan" Ahmedabad-AIR (Air Information and Response)" was launched with a lead from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and other research organizations which will connect SAFAR products with health related mitigation options. During the occasion, a booklet for common citizen to know about SAFAR services “Ashavali-Tarang” - an introduction to SAFAR-Ahmedabad; Emission Inventory (statement of account of pollution sources); Unified SAFAR web-Portal; “SAFAR-Air” Mobile App for Ahmedabad were released.
Connecting to the Society: Data to Information: Dissemination of information for benefit of society is the backbone of SAFAR India project, involves translating data to information i.e. Air Quality Index (AQI), UV Index (UVI) and associated health and skin advisories and ensures wide dissemination of this information in an easy to understand format. SAFAR-Ahmedabad system products include Air Quality- Now, Air Quality-Tomorrow, Weather-Now, Weather-Tomorrow, UV Index –Skin Advisory, AQI – Health Advisory and City Pollution Maps. For various stakeholders following dissemination tools are available for easy access of data/information, which are : i) SAFAR-AIR- Mobile App: for android phones (Play Store) and for I-Phones (Apple Store); ii) SAFAR-INDIA-Website: http://safar.tropmet.res.in/; iii) Digital Display Board System (DDS) ; iv) SAFAR- Toll free No, an IVRS Service: 1800 180 1717; v) SMS and E-mail Alert Services- safar@tropmet.res.in
Under MoES (INDIA)-NERC (UK) research program, “Atmospheric Pollution and Human Health in Indian Megacities (APHH)” has been initiated and APHH secretariat has been established at IITM, Pune. Under this program campaign is being conducted in Delhi during November 2017 to February 2018 to assess air quality and weather conditions in Delhi during winter months.
Air pollution Emergency-2017 of Delhi and Gulf dust has been scientifically investigated. The results highlights unique relationship between air pollution and different processes dominated mainly by external sources controlled by large scale transport processes led by unusual winter dust storm combined with upper air meteorology from Gulf and anticyclonic circulation. The results suggest a cautious mitigation strategy to meet air quality targets because of Delhi’s unique geography and demographic structure.
