Chapters authored
Impact of COVID-19 Measures on the Air Quality Monitored for the State of Himachal Pradesh: A Google Earth Engine Based Study
The COVID-19 pandemic was declared by World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020 and advised countries to take immediate and concerted action. The governments of India and Himachal Pradesh carried out preventive and precautionary steps to minimize the spread of coronavirus disease. In this study, the impact of a sudden halt in human activity on air quality was investigated by looking at changes in satellite imagery using a remote sensing approach. The concentrations of the gaseous contaminants studied (CO, SO2, NO2, and C6H6) show a significant decrease during the lockdown. The average particulate matter concentrations (PM10 and PM2.5) differed significantly from gaseous emissions, meaning that particulate matter significantly affects anthropogenic activities. NO2 concentrations and NOx emission variations were tracked for rural/town areas around Himachal Pradesh and major urban cities of India. Daily top-down NOx emissions were measured using the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), which assisted in retrieving NO2 from the steady-state continuity equation. The emissions of NOx from rural, urban, and power plants were compared before and after the lockdown. The research accounted for our studies on the levels of (NO2, Ozone (O3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) were monitored using Sentinel-5P imagery using the GEE platform.
Part of the book: Geographic Information Systems and Applications in Coastal Studies