Deadly Smog in India and Pakistan

By Scott Lindstrom • 9 November 2017

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day Night Band Visible Imagery (0.70 µm) at Night, 05, 07 and 08 November 2017 (Click to enlarge).

Suomi NPP VIIRS Visible Imagery at Night (the Day Night Band Visible Image (0.7 µm) from 5 November, 7 November and 8 November), above, and Infrared Channel Brightness Temperature Difference  (11.45 µm – 3.9 µm) on 5 November, 7 November and 8 November), below, both show the presence of fog/smog over northern Pakistan and northwestern India from 05-08 November 2017 (Suomi NPP VIIRS Imagery courtesy of William Straka, CIMSS). The Smog led the Government of Punjab to ban burning of stubble; schools in Delhi were closed.  Vehicle crashes linked to reduced visibilities have killed at least 10 people (source).  Air Quality in the region is very poor as shown in this Screen Grab from this site.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Infrared channel Brightness Temperature Difference (11.45 µm – 3.9 µm) on 05, 07, and 08 November 2017 (Click to enlarge)

An animation of Meteosat-8 Visible Imagery, below, from 03-09 November, shows little improvement in conditions in the past week.

Meteosat-8 Visible Imagery (0.6 µm) at 0300 UTC from 03 to 09 November 2017 (Click to enlarge)

Daily composites of Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from RealEarth, below, showed the areal coverage of the smog during the 03-09 November period. Surface observations at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport indicated that the visibility remained below one statute mile — with zero visibility at times — during the 72-hour period spanning 07 November, 08 November and 09 November (animation).

Daily composites of Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color RGB images (click to enlarge)

Worth noting on a nighttime comparison of Suomi NPP VIIRS Infrared Brightness Difference (11.45-3.74 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images, below, was the appearance of a cloud shadow being cast by moonlight onto the top of the boundary layer smog/fog.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Infrared Brightness Difference (11.45-3.74 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Categories: Air quality, Meteosat, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS