SAFAR: System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research

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Illustration: SAFAR: System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research
  • System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) has been developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological (IITM) Pune, Maharashtra and is operationalized by IMD.
  • It is India՚s first air quality early warning system launched in Delhi in 2010 during Commonwealth Games.
  • Based on the air quality index on particular day, health advisory and related precaution will be taken by the citizens in advance.
  • It can monitor all weather parameters like temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall and wind direction.
  • It also measures Sun՚s UV index (UVI) .
  • air quality in near real time and its forecast 1 - 3 days in advance for the first time in India
  • The SAFAR system is developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, along with ESSO partner institutions namely India Meteorological Department (IMD) and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) .

Research

  • To study the impact of air quality on Health and Eco-system.
  • To qualify microclimate of metropolitan cities.
  • To study the spatio-temporal, seasonal and long-term trends in the level of weather parameter atmospheric pollutant and chemical weather and inter-linkages.
  • Delivering the comprehensive seasonal air pollution scenario and relative contribution of different emission sources for various metropolitan cities under study.
  • Identification of pathways of pollutants from neighboring states and relative contribution between local versus distant sources along with its interpretation for different cities.
  • Role of meteorology in the distribution of air pollutants and visa-versa by revealing the spatio-temporal behaviours of pollutants and their variability specific to the location.
  • Pollutants monitored: PM1, PM2.5, PM10, Ozone, CO, NOx NO, NO2 , SO2, BC, Methane CH4 , Non-methane hydrocarbons NMHC , VOC՚s, Benzene, Mercury
  • Monitored Meteorological Parameters: UV Radiation, Rainfall, Temperature, Humidity, Wind speed, Wind direction, solar radiation
  • Air Quality indicators are monitored at about 3 m height from the ground with online sophisticated instruments. These instruments are operated round the clock and data is recorded and stored at every 5-minute interval for quality check and further analysis.
  • It also monitors existence of harmful pollutants of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene.
  • It has LED display which produces real time air quality index on 24X7 basis with colour coding and 72 hours advanced forecasting.
  • It measures pollutants like PM 2.5, PM 10, Sulphur Dioxide, Ozone, Nitrogen oxides, Carbon Monoxide.
  • It provides measurements of online automatic ultra-fine particles PM1, Black carbon and mercury which have direct impact on human health.
  • It provides weather forecasting of 72 hours in advance along with cost savings in several sectors like agriculture, aviation, infrastructure, disaster management, tourism and many other which directly or indirectly get affected by air quality and weather.
  • SAFAR is being implemented in four cities of India namely Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

SAFAR - AIR

Illustration: SAFAR - AIR
  • SAFAR-Air is India՚s first mobile application designed to check the quality of air.
  • It was launched on 17 February 2015 at the IITM, Pune (Maharashtra) by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to provide real time air quality information.
  • It is jointly run by the IITM and IMD. The forecasting model is running on a super computer in IITM called Aditya.
  • IITM uses four nested domain starting from near global to the local city level.

Mayank