Performance of high resolution (400 m) PM2.5 forecast over Delhi
Jena, C., Ghude, S. D., Kumar, R., Debnath, S., Govardhan, G., Soni, V. K., … Rajeevan, M. (2021). Performance of high resolution (400Â m) PM2.5 forecast over Delhi. Scientific Reports, 11, 4104. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83467-8
This study reports a very high-resolution (400 m grid-spacing) operational air quality forecasting system developed to alert residents of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) about forthcoming acute air pollution episodes. Such a high-resolution system has been developed for the first time... Show moreThis study reports a very high-resolution (400 m grid-spacing) operational air quality forecasting system developed to alert residents of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) about forthcoming acute air pollution episodes. Such a high-resolution system has been developed for the first time and is evaluated during October 2019-February 2020. The system assimilates near real-time aerosol observations from in situ and space-borne platform in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to produce a 72-h forecast daily in a dynamical downscaling framework. The assimilation of aerosol optical depth and surface PM2.5 observations improves the initial condition for surface PM2.5 by about 45 mu g/m(3) (about 50%).The accuracy of the forecast degrades slightly with lead time as mean bias increase from+2.5 mu g/m(3) on the first day to - 17 mu g/m(3) on the third day of forecast. Our forecast is found to be very skillful both for PM2.5 concentration and unhealthy/ very unhealthy air quality index categories, and has been helping the decision-makers in Delhi make informed decisions. Show less