🗓️🌫️PM2.5 Pollution in Delhi: Month by Month, Block by Block (1998-2023)
🚨💨 Delhi’s air pollution crisis isn’t a seasonal glitch—it’s a 365-day emergency.
New satellite-derived monthly average population-weighted PM2.5 data from biteSizedAQ reveals a stark and worsening reality. While public attention peaks only during winter months, the data shows that air pollution levels remain dangerously high year-round, with long-term trends moving in the wrong direction:
- Delhi’s annual PM2.5 population-weighted average has surged 44% since 1998—rising from 71.5 µg/m³ to 103 µg/m³ by 2023.
- The summer/monsoon (March–September) PM2.5 average jumped 42%—from 39.1 µg/m³ to 55.5 µg/m³.
- Winter (October-February) PM2.5 average rose 43.6%—from 117 µg/m³ in 1998 to 168 µg/m³ in 2023.
- In 1998, certain regions of Delhi still experienced monthly PM2.5 below 35 µg/m³ in 4 months. By 2023, not a single month in any region of Delhi dropped below that threshold.
- In 2023, some regions of Delhi recorded monthly average PM2.5 exceeding 180 µg/m³ in 5 months, compared to only 2 months in 1998 exceeding 180 µg/m³.
This isn’t just a winter menace—it’s an around-the-clock assault on every lung and every heartbeat. And while this particular dataset focuses on Delhi, the trend generally holds across the wider Indo-Gangetic Plain, the most polluted region in the world.
Yet, policies and public discourse still follow the "winter calendar"—with monitoring, enforcement, and action largely relatively dormant from spring (Feb-March) to early autumn (October Start).
The progress from all the action in winter months is in large parts undone by the slack of summer months due to the faulty assumption that non-winter months are somehow not polluted. They might be less polluted then winter months, but they are still severely polluted. That is the key message.
We need a 365-day action plan, not just seasonal fixes. That means:
- Sustaining vehicle curbs, construction limits, emergency alerts, and community outreach, etc. beyond winter with the same rigor.
- Enforcing real-time responses and public health protections through summer, heatwaves, and monsoons.
- Holding polluters accountable and ensuring continuous monitoring, not just October–January panic.
The next decade’s maps must show a decline—not a relentless climb.
Don’t wait for December’s headlines.
Demand a 365-day pollution-control strategy now. 🛰️
Star the biteSizedAQ GitHub repo (link in data sources) to keep up to date on open source pollution data and resources.
#Delhi365 #airquality #pm2.5 #satellitedata #biteSizedAQ #airpollutionkills