Air 01 AQI
Quality ➢ Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication
of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy
to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of
Index various pollutants into a single number (index value),
nomenclature and colour.
02 AQI is useful for
➢ General public to know air quality in a simplified way,
➢ A politician to invoke quick actions,
➢ A decision maker to know the trend of events and to
chalk out corrective pollution control strategies,
➢ A government official to study the impact of
regulatory actions, and
➢ A scientist engaged in research using air quality data.
Categories of AQI
AQI Category AQI range Color code
Good 0 - 50
Satisfactory 51 - 100
Moderate 101 - 200
Poor 201 - 300
Very Poor 301 - 400
Severe 401 - 500
Based on ambient concentration of air pollutants and their health breakpoints.
Health Breakpoints
Health Impact of AQI Categories
Air Quality Monitoring Network
A network of web-based Real-time Monitoring (RTM)
system is designed to provide AQI on real time basis.
It is an automated system that captures data from
RTM stations without human intervention, and
displays AQI based on running average values
AQI Criteria Parameters
Particulate Matter PM10 Benzene
Particulate Matter PM2.5 Lead
Nitrogen dioxide Arsenic
Sulphur dioxide Nickel
Carbon monoxide. Benzopyrene
Ozone
Ammonia
Owing to real-time monitoring limitations and practical
consideration only seven parameters are considered.
Limitations in AQI Calculation
Availability of standards allow Pb, Ni, As & Benzopyrene are
only 7 criteria parameters for analyzed through manual system
AQI calculation
For AQI, data is fed directly from
the analyser without scrutiny.
Ni, NH3, Benzene & Benzo
pyrene have only annual
Issues of Power cuts, Internet
standards
outage, Maintenance etc
CO & O3 have short-term AQI dissemination involves multiple
standards only steps, viz. operation of sensors,
analysers, calibration, data acquisition,
data transmission etc which may
disrupt transmission continuity.
AQI Calculation Criteria
AQI criteria explained
Calculation of AQI
Data of minimum three pollutants is necessary
One of the three pollutants should be PM2.5 or PM10
Minimum 16 hour data of each parameter is required
CO & O3 are measured on 8 hour basis
Rest of the parameters are measured on 24 hour basis
The Sub-indices for individual pollutants are calculated using
its 24-hourly average concentration value.
The worst sub-index is taken as the AQI for that location.
24 hour raw data of each pollutant
Drawn 24 hour average value of each pollutant
Sub-index calculation using avg vlaue of each pollutant
AQI publication on MPPCB website
Thank you….