New Delhi, October 24 — Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday inaugurated a first-of-its-kind 'Air Pollution Analysis' facility for the Delhi-NCR region, news agency IANS reported. The facility, called the Integrated Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosol Toxicity Analysis Laboratory (AATAL), is equipped to identify the real-time sources of air pollution.
Source: IANS via IANS Live
The inauguration took place at the Delhi branch of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in the presence of Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary Dr T. Srinivasa Kumar, IITM Director Dr A. Suryachandra Rao and IMD Director General Dr Mahapatra, IANS said. The laboratory has been established under Mission Mausam, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the scientific understanding of atmospheric pollution and provide actionable evidence for air-quality management in Delhi-NCR.
Source: IANS via IANS Live
AATAL will help scientists distinguish between different sources of air pollution, including vehicular emissions, industrial activity, biomass and crop-residue burning, construction and road dust, and pollutants transported from surrounding regions, IANS reported. By estimating each source's relative contribution, the facility is meant to help authorities understand which activities are driving poor air quality at a particular time and where interventions may be most effective.
Source: IANS via IANS Live
Describing it as a first-of-its-kind integrated facility in the world, Dr Singh said Delhi-NCR was chosen in view of the serious public concern over air pollution, and that the facility would take air-quality assessment beyond simply reporting pollution levels to identifying the composition of pollutants, their sources, their relative contributions and their potential health implications, while providing real-time information and advance forecasts, according to the government release carried by India Education Diary.
Source: PIB release via India Education Diary
The laboratory is linked to IITM's AIRWISE system, which combines air-quality measurements, forecasts and pollution-source data; during a demonstration at the inauguration, transport emissions accounted for around 25% of Delhi's pollution at that moment, while the overall pollution reading was about 180, ResponsibleUS reported.