The Commission for Air Quality Management has asked India’s space agency to refine its satellite-based detection of farm fires in the northern plains, specifically requesting the ability to distinguish between small-scale stubble burning and large-scale agricultural burning events that contribute significantly to Delhi’s winter air pollution.
The request from the Commission for Air Quality Management, a statutory body coordinating air quality management across Delhi-NCR, to the Indian Space Research Organisation comes as the capital region prepares for its annual surge in particulate matter concentrations that typically begins in late October and peaks through November and December.
According to officials familiar with the development, CAQM has communicated to ISRO that current satellite data, while useful for counting detected fires, does not adequately differentiate between fires of varying scale and intensity. Under existing detection systems, a small farm fire and a large-scale burning event can register similarly, complicating efforts to attribute emissions accurately and calibrate response measures.
The technical distinction matters because enforcement agencies and policymakers have increasingly relied on satellite-derived fire data to estimate the contribution of agricultural residue burning to Delhi’s overall emissions burden. CAQM has been working with ISRO on satellite-based fire detection as part of its broader monitoring framework for the region.
The Commission for Air Quality Management was established as a statutory body under the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, replacing an earlier executive body. Its mandate includes coordinating air quality management across Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas, which encompasses parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
Stubble burning in the Indo-Gangetic plains, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, has been repeatedly identified in official submissions to the Supreme Court as a major seasonal contributor to Delhi’s air quality deterioration. The practice occurs after rice and wheat harvests when farmers clear agricultural residue to prepare fields for the next planting cycle, typically between October and November.
Delhi’s winter air quality crisis emerges from a confluence of factors. Temperature inversions during the colder months trap pollutants near the ground, preventing natural dispersal. Vehicular emissions, construction dust, industrial activity, and biomass burning within the city compound the problem. Agricultural burning in neighbouring states, though geographically distant, contributes to particulate matter concentrations under prevailing wind patterns that carry emissions southward into the capital region.
The precise share of stubble burning in Delhi’s overall pollution burden has been a subject of ongoing debate. Government estimates have cited figures ranging from 4 to 40 percent depending on the methodology and time period examined. Independent assessments have produced varying results, with some studies attributing a larger role to local sources such as vehicular emissions and road dust.
The request to ISRO focuses on refining what scientists term fire radiative power measurements. ISRO operates several satellite systems capable of detecting thermal anomalies associated with burning, including instruments aboard platforms that provide repeated coverage of the subcontinent. The current systems can identify the presence and approximate location of fires but have limited capacity to characterize their scale from space-based observations alone.
For ISRO, fulfilling the request would involve refining algorithms used in its fire detection products to incorporate spectral and radiative measurements more effectively. Such refinements could have applications beyond Delhi-NCR, including forest fire monitoring and industrial emissions tracking across different regions of the country.
The CAQM-ISRO coordination is part of a wider set of measures under discussion this year. These include expanded use of bio-decomposers that accelerate straw decomposition in fields, incentives for happy seeder machinery that allows wheat planting without prior straw removal, and state-level penalties for open burning. The happy seeder, a machine that plants wheat directly into standing rice stubble, has been promoted as a technical solution that eliminates the need for burning, though adoption has remained limited by cost and availability constraints.
State governments in Punjab and Haryana have implemented various enforcement mechanisms, including fines and remote sensing-based monitoring. However, outcomes from past seasons have been mixed. Fire counts detected by satellite systems have continued at significant levels despite enforcement efforts, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches.
The political dimension of the issue places CAQM in a delicate position. Delhi’s air quality needs compete with the agricultural practices of neighbouring states, where paddy cultivation is deeply embedded in farming systems. Punjab’s procurement regime and Minimum Support Price for rice create incentives for cultivation, while the short window between rice harvest and wheat planting leaves limited time for alternative straw disposal methods.
The agronomic constraint is tight. Rice straw has limited commercial value and cannot be easily incorporated into soil before wheat sowing without specialized equipment. The happy seeder addresses this constraint but requires investment that smaller farmers may find difficult to justify without substantial subsidy support.
Whether more granular satellite data translates into fewer fires or lower emissions will ultimately depend on enforcement and on farmer adoption of alternatives, not solely on monitoring accuracy. Improved detection capability could allow regulators to focus enforcement resources on the largest burning events and produce more defensible emissions inventories. It could also strengthen policy arguments and litigation positions by providing more precise attribution of pollution sources.
However, accurate monitoring does not address the underlying economic and logistical drivers of residue burning. Even with perfect detection, the incentive structure facing farmers in Punjab and Haryana would remain largely unchanged without meaningful alternatives for straw disposal.
CAQM did not announce a deadline for the upgraded analysis in its communications, and ISRO has not publicly commented on the technical specifics of the request. The timeline for any improvements to satellite-based fire detection capabilities would depend on satellite revisit frequencies, algorithm development, and validation requirements.
What to watch in the coming weeks includes whether ISRO formally responds to the technical specifications sought by CAQM, whether state governments announce enhanced enforcement measures for the upcoming season, and whether satellite-detected fire counts show any meaningful reduction compared to previous years.
The winter pollution season in Delhi typically sees particulate matter concentrations rise sharply from October onward, with air quality indices frequently reaching severe levels that trigger emergency measures including vehicle restrictions and construction bans. The effectiveness of CAQM’s monitoring improvements will be measured against these pollution peaks.
CAQM has positioned satellite-based monitoring as a primary accountability tool for agricultural burning, a politically sensitive issue that requires balancing air quality goals against agricultural realities in the neighbouring states that supply a significant portion of the region’s food grain. The success of any upgraded system will ultimately depend on whether satellite-derived data is matched with ground verification and enforcement, which has historically been limited.
Sources
Hindustan Times: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/ahead-of-delhi-pollution-season-caqm-asks-isro-to-improve-stubble-burning-accuracy-101788545138599.html
Source: Hindustan Times – India News
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Story synopsis gathered from: Hindustan Times – India News — source
