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November 28, 2022 - Aerosols over India
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Widespread haze continued to cloud the skies over much of India throughout November 2022. On November 25, The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color gray skies stretching across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and also from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal in southern India.
In India, November is the month when farmers typically burn excess paddy straw after rice harvest—a practice called stubble burning. This practice contributes greatly to the fine particulates or tiny droplets (aerosols) that create haze. Burning usually starts in early November and continues for three to four weeks. Although fires are not visible in this image, other satellite views confirm that many fires consistent with stubble burning were active in northwestern India as well as in the eastern and central sections of the country when this image was acquired.
Many farmers, particularly in the states of Punjab and Haryana, use fire as a fast, cheap way to clean up and fertilize fields before planting winter crops. However, a surge of smoke in the heart of the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain often contributes to a sharp deterioration of air quality across the region, including in the capital city of Delhi.
The air quality index rose (US AQI) in Pooth Khurd, Bawana, Delhi registered at 422 on November 27, 2022, according to the IQ Air website, which placed conditions as “hazardous” on this website’s scale. Earlier in the month, on November 1, the air quality index rose as high as 422, according to the India’s Central Pollution Control Board, enough to put it into the “severe” category. The high pollution levels on November 1 prompted a halt in construction in Delhi and calls for people to work from home.
Smoke from crop fires is not the only contributor to the hazy skies in the region. Dust from northwestern India’s Thar Desert or from the vast sand seas located on the Arabian Peninsula frequently sometimes are blown aloft and across parts of India, contributing to aerosol pollution. An array of other human-caused sources of air pollution come from cities, including motor vehicle fumes, industrial and construction activity, fireworks, and fires for heating and cooking.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/25/2022
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m (7.6 MB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Widespread haze continued to cloud the skies over much of India throughout November 2022. On November 25, The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color gray skies stretching across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and also from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal in southern India.
In India, November is the month when farmers typically burn excess paddy straw after rice harvest—a practice called stubble burning. This practice contributes greatly to the fine particulates or tiny droplets (aerosols) that create haze. Burning usually starts in early November and continues for three to four weeks. Although fires are not visible in this image, other satellite views confirm that many fires consistent with stubble burning were active in northwestern India as well as in the eastern and central sections of the country when this image was acquired.
Many farmers, particularly in the states of Punjab and Haryana, use fire as a fast, cheap way to clean up and fertilize fields before planting winter crops. However, a surge of smoke in the heart of the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain often contributes to a sharp deterioration of air quality across the region, including in the capital city of Delhi.
The air quality index rose (US AQI) in Pooth Khurd, Bawana, Delhi registered at 422 on November 27, 2022, according to the IQ Air website, which placed conditions as “hazardous” on this website’s scale. Earlier in the month, on November 1, the air quality index rose as high as 422, according to the India’s Central Pollution Control Board, enough to put it into the “severe” category. The high pollution levels on November 1 prompted a halt in construction in Delhi and calls for people to work from home.
Smoke from crop fires is not the only contributor to the hazy skies in the region. Dust from northwestern India’s Thar Desert or from the vast sand seas located on the Arabian Peninsula frequently sometimes are blown aloft and across parts of India, contributing to aerosol pollution. An array of other human-caused sources of air pollution come from cities, including motor vehicle fumes, industrial and construction activity, fireworks, and fires for heating and cooking.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/25/2022
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m (7.6 MB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
