Fog hazard of Indo-Gangetic plain: Mapping, modelling and dispersion techniques

Abstract

Fog is a low stratus cloud, which normally touches ground. The great Indo-Gangetic Plain covering an enormous area, south of the Himalaya in Northern India is most affected by dense fog every year in the winter months (during December to February). Due to increasing air pollution, it has now become smog (smoke + fog) rather than normal fog. Increased air pollution adds the availability of aerosols which becomes prominent during winter months due to prevailing air flow conditions. Aerosols (are small particles of about 0.2 µm size) serve as cloud condensation nuclei which become smog during winter months. The characteristic meteorological, environmental and prevailing topographic conditions and increasing pollution over the Indo-Gangetic Plain are the common factors favoring fog formation. In the present study, the fog of Indo-Gangetic Plain has mapped (2002-2017), analyzed using NOAA-AVHRR and Terra /Aqua-MODIS satellite data sets. GIS based analysis of different parametric surfaces derived through two different interpolations of meteorological and elevation data, the favorable conditions for fog formation were ascertained and forecasting has been done for few dates. Later fog formation forecasts were validated of using NOAA-AVHRR / Terra /Aqua-MODIS data sets in near real time. The dissipation and migration pattern of fog in the study area is also interpreted and analyzed on the basis of the analysis of both meteorological and satellite data. A classification of the fog-affected area is also performed and the more fog prone zones in the belt were identified. The present paper also proposes ion based fog dispersion technique which initially has been tested in the lab and results show highly encouraging results. Field validations of ion based fog dispersion technique have also been planned. © 2018 Proceedings - 39th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing Enabling Prosperity, ACRS 2018