The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) faces many obstacles in its fight against air pollution owing to a lack of scientific evidence and insufficient capacity. The Centre for Air Pollution Studies (CAPS) at CSTEP aims to fill these gaps through the development of emission inventories to generate evidence on air pollution and clean air action plans to devise source-specific interventions. CAPS is also involved in conducting training workshops for local pollution control board officials and awareness workshops to increase public support for successful policy implementation.
Please visit the CAPS portal to know more about our work!
Bias in PM2.5 measurements using collocated reference-grade and optical instruments
Optical PM2.5 measurements are sensitive to aerosol properties that can vary with space and time. Here, we compared PM2.5 measurements from collocated reference-grade (beta attenuation monitors, BAMs) and optical instruments (two DustTrak II and two DustTrak DRX) over 6 months. We performed inter-model (two different models), intra-model (two units of the same model), and inter-type (two different device types: optical vs. reference-grade) comparisons under ambient conditions.
Best Practices for Deploying and Maintaining a Low-Cost PM2.5 Sensor Network
Strategically placed sensors can monitor air pollution and provide a detailed picture of air quality and its variability within a region. Low-cost sensors (LCSs) that measure PM2.5 are becoming increasingly popular because of their low cost, ease of use, and portability. However, the portability and low cost come with trade-offs on data quality, reliability, and shelf life. The typical shelf life of LCSs is around a year to two. Also, the raw data from these LCSs need to be calibrated. This report documents the best practices for establishing and maintaining an LCS network.