(a) whether abnormal weather conditions like huge fog cloud over parts of Northern India had been reported recently;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Government has chalked out any plan to counter such situation in near future; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
The MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND
MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)
(a-b) No Madam. Abnormal weather conditions like huge fog cloud over part of Northern India has not been reported recently. However, the usual phenomenon of moderate fog/haze has been reported at some places on certain occasions during the month of November, 2015.
Fog is largely prevalent over the north/north west India due to the stable atmospheric conditions locally that keeps the suspended pollutant particles trapped in the lower atmosphere close to the surface. The increased quantum of vehicular traffic/rapid industrialization over the years is one of the reasons for the increased concentrations of such pollutants over the urban areas and industrial corridors/sectors under the stable atmospheric conditions. Associated with the dropping of the night time temperature due to radiation cooling following sun set, local scale radiation fog gets established and gets lifted only after the warming of the ground following the sunrise. On the other hand, advection fog gets engulfed over large parts of north and northwest India, due to the passage of warm and moist airmass associated with circulation over a cold ground that stays for major part of the day until the change in circulation pattern is reversed.
(c-d) No Madam. However, the India Meteorological Department provide real time updates of possible fog development scenario to Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Airport Operators/Airlines for taking appropriate action further to sustain the air traffic operations with the support of various category of instrumented landing/takeoff systems and continuous runway visibility monitoring systems established in airports.
System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) system is operated to facilitate forecasting the concentration changes of suspended pollutants that can influence the prevalence of the radiation fog followed by haze over Delhi NCR region.