Air quality forecasting model by India gets international peer-review

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MUMBAI: The first official, indigenous framework prepared by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), used to forecast air quality in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Ahmedabad, was published in the international peer-reviewed Elsevier Journal of Environmental Modelling and Software. The framework was published on September 22 in the journal. According to experts, this could give a significant boost for installing this framework in other non-attainment cities under the Government of India’s National Clean Air Program (NCAP).

Dr Gufran Beig, Founding Project Director, SAFAR, while commenting on the framework, said that it is a single-window solution for forecasting bad air days, to prompt mitigation measures and develop micro-specific air action plans. He added that SAFAR’s forecasting model is comparable to the one by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

As per NCAP’s mandates, cities should have a pre-emptive air quality forecasting mechanism. Presently, India has 132 non-attainment cities under the NCAP programme. These cities aim to reduce particulate matter pollution by 20 to 30% by 2024, keeping 2017 as the base year. This forecasting model can be used by the urban local bodies to issue timely health advisories publicly and to alert citizens on days when the regional AQI touches hazardous levels. This could help people of vulnerable groups to be exposed minimally to air pollution.