Nitrogen dioxide as proxy indicator of air pollution from fossil fuel burning in New Delhi during lockdown phases of COVID-19 pandemic period: impact on weather as revealed by Sentinel-5 precursor (5p) spectrometer sensor

Pavan Kumar; Aishwarya; Prashant Kumar Srivastava; Manish Kumar Pandey; Akash Anand; Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Martin Drews; Manmohan Dobriyal; Ram Kumar Singh; Manuel De la Sen; Sati Shankar Singh; Ajai Kumar Pandey; Manoj Kumar; Meenu Rani

doi:10.1007/s10668-023-02977-9

Nitrogen dioxide as proxy indicator of air pollution from fossil fuel burning in New Delhi during lockdown phases of COVID-19 pandemic period: impact on weather as revealed by Sentinel-5 precursor (5p) spectrometer sensor

Environ Dev Sustain. 2023 Feb 8:1-12. doi: 10.1007/s10668-023-02977-9. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Horticulture and Forestry, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, 284003 India.
² College of Agriculture, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, 284003 India.
³ Remote Sensing Laboratory, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221005 India.
⁴ Centre for Quantitative Economics and Data Science, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand Ranchi, India.
⁵ Department of Ecological Studies, International Centre for Ecological Engineering, University of Kalyani West Bengal, Kalyani, India.
⁶ Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
⁷ Department of Natural Resources, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, 110070 India.
⁸ Department of Electricity and Electronics, Institute of Research and Development of Processes IIDP, University of the Basque Country, Campus of Leioa, PO Box 48940, Leioa, Bizkaia Spain.
⁹ Extension Education, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, 284003 India.
¹⁰ GIS Centre, Forest Research Institute (FRI), PO: New Forest, Dehradun, 248006 India.
¹¹ Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand India.

Abstract

There has been a long-lasting impact of the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 on several fronts. One such front is climate which has seen several implications. The consequences of climate change owing to this lockdown need to be explored taking into consideration various climatic indicators. Further impact on a local and global level would help the policymakers in drafting effective rules for handling challenges of climate change. For in-depth understanding, a temporal study is being conducted in a phased manner in the New Delhi region taking NO₂ concentration and utilizing statistical methods to elaborate the quality of air during the lockdown and compared with a pre-lockdown period. In situ mean values of the NO₂ concentration were taken for four different dates, viz. 4th February, 4th March, 4th April, and 25th April 2020. These concentrations were then compared with the Sentinel (5p) data across 36 locations in New Delhi which are found to be promising. The results indicated that the air quality has been improved maximum in Eastern Delhi and the NO₂ concentrations were reduced by one-fourth than the pre-lockdown period, and thus, reduced activities due to lockdown have had a significant impact. The result also indicates the preciseness of Sentinel (5p) for NO₂ concentrations.

Keywords: Air fossil fuel; Atmospheric correction; COVID-19 lockdown; Climate change; NO2 concentrations.

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