Topic of the Day – SAFAR System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting

UPSC Exam Preparation: Topic of the Day – SAFAR System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting

SAFAR – the state of art Air Quality and Weather Forecast system has been unveiled by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The giant true colour LED display gives out real-time air quality index on 24×7 basis with colour coding along with 72-hour advance forecast. Based on the Air Quality Index on a particular day, health advisory and related precaution will be notified to prepare citizens well in advance. The system is first of its kind in India and is the most advanced system. It is installed at Chandni Chowk in Delhi. There are proposals to implement SAFAR in the other three cities i.e, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Details:

• SAFAR is operationalized by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
• It was indigenously developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
• In addition to regular air quality and weather parameters like Carbon Monoxide, Particulate Matter -PM2.5, PM10, Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Dioxide and Ozone, it will measure Black carbon, Mercury, sun’s UV-Index (UVI) and PM1 in real time.
• It can also provide the measurement of online automatic ultrafine particles Mercury and PM1, both of which have direct relevance to human health.
• It will also monitor the existence harmful pollutants of Xylene, Toluene and Benzene.

Benefits:

• Preparedness of air pollution and weather extremes and public awareness will be accelerated.
• It will lead to a better understanding of linkages among climate, pollution, emissions, and weather.
• It will monitor all weather parameters like humidity, rainfall, temperature, wind direction and wind speed.

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