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Study of Air Quality over Delhi during COVID-19 Lockdown Based on Remote Sensing Observations

Budakoti, Sachin LU (2025) In Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics 37(6). p.771-785
Abstract
Increasing concentrations of toxic pollutants and particulate matter are a major concern related to human health. The present work is structured into two phases; the first is aimed at understanding the O3–NOX–VOC sensitivity over Delhi during the lockdown period; the second phase examines the influence of dust-induced aerosol particles on air pollution during the lockdown period using satellite-derived and ground-based observations. The analysis of VOC–NOX–O3 shows that ozone generation across Delhi primarily lies in the VOC-sensitive regime (VOCs/NOX < 8). A decrease in VOCs/NOX values associated with an increase in surface ozone resulted from the lower values of NOX. Apart from ozone precursors (NOx and VOCs), meteorological variables... (More)
Increasing concentrations of toxic pollutants and particulate matter are a major concern related to human health. The present work is structured into two phases; the first is aimed at understanding the O3–NOX–VOC sensitivity over Delhi during the lockdown period; the second phase examines the influence of dust-induced aerosol particles on air pollution during the lockdown period using satellite-derived and ground-based observations. The analysis of VOC–NOX–O3 shows that ozone generation across Delhi primarily lies in the VOC-sensitive regime (VOCs/NOX < 8). A decrease in VOCs/NOX values associated with an increase in surface ozone resulted from the lower values of NOX. Apart from ozone precursors (NOx and VOCs), meteorological variables also play a vital role in the generation of surface ozone. The two-way ANOVA test and partial correlation analysis show the surface temperature to be a dominant factor which limits surface ozone across Delhi. Dust-induced high aerosol loading (aerosol optical depth values of ~0.7 to 0.9) is observed during the first and last weeks of April. The presence of a shallow atmosphere and increased dust-induced aerosol particles peculiarly increase the content of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) across Delhi. This counterintuitively leads to enhanced air pollution despite the improvement in air quality during the lockdown period. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics
volume
37
issue
6
pages
771 - 785
publisher
Pleiades Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:86000120680
ISSN
1024-8560
DOI
10.1134/S1024856024701215
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c6bc19d6-76b4-492b-af3f-75e201be5374
date added to LUP
2025-03-14 14:45:27
date last changed
2025-06-03 09:21:17
@article{c6bc19d6-76b4-492b-af3f-75e201be5374,
  abstract     = {{Increasing concentrations of toxic pollutants and particulate matter are a major concern related to human health. The present work is structured into two phases; the first is aimed at understanding the O3–NOX–VOC sensitivity over Delhi during the lockdown period; the second phase examines the influence of dust-induced aerosol particles on air pollution during the lockdown period using satellite-derived and ground-based observations. The analysis of VOC–NOX–O3 shows that ozone generation across Delhi primarily lies in the VOC-sensitive regime (VOCs/NOX &lt; 8). A decrease in VOCs/NOX values associated with an increase in surface ozone resulted from the lower values of NOX. Apart from ozone precursors (NOx and VOCs), meteorological variables also play a vital role in the generation of surface ozone. The two-way ANOVA test and partial correlation analysis show the surface temperature to be a dominant factor which limits surface ozone across Delhi. Dust-induced high aerosol loading (aerosol optical depth values of ~0.7 to 0.9) is observed during the first and last weeks of April. The presence of a shallow atmosphere and increased dust-induced aerosol particles peculiarly increase the content of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) across Delhi. This counterintuitively leads to enhanced air pollution despite the improvement in air quality during the lockdown period.}},
  author       = {{Budakoti, Sachin}},
  issn         = {{1024-8560}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{771--785}},
  publisher    = {{Pleiades Publishing}},
  series       = {{Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics}},
  title        = {{Study of Air Quality over Delhi during COVID-19 Lockdown Based on Remote Sensing Observations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S1024856024701215}},
  doi          = {{10.1134/S1024856024701215}},
  volume       = {{37}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}