We clearly observed that reduction in atmospheric pollutants (due to reduction in anthropogenic activity during lockdown) resulted in a decrease in local day and night-time temperature. The study also found Land Surface Temperature (LST) over major cities in India substantially declined in contrast with the previous five-year average (2015-2019) with day temperatures being up to 1☌ cooler and those at night up to 2☌ cooler.Ĭo- author Professor Jadu Dash, from University of Southampton, commented: “The lockdown provided a natural experiment to understand the coupling between urbanisation and local microclimate. In India alone, about 16,000 premature deaths occur annually due to exposure to poor air quality. There was a 40 percent reduction over the national capital, New Delhi. The researchers revealed a significant reduction in Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), a greenhouse gas emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels, which equated to an average decrease of 12 percent throughout India and 31.5 percent over the six cities. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Research, provide a strong evidence base for potential environmental benefits through larger scale policy implementation. They concentrated on six major urban areas: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad – comparing data from the 2020 March to May lockdown with pre-pandemic years. The international team used data from a range of Earth Observation sensors, including those from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5p and NASA’s MODIS sensors, to measure changes in surface temperature and atmospheric pollutants and aerosols. The study found that travel and work restrictions imposed early in the pandemic resulted in a significant environmental improvement, due to an abrupt reduction in industrial activities and a major decrease in the use of land and air transport. Research by scientists from University of Southampton (UK) and the Central University of Jharkhand (India) has shown the first COVID-19 lockdown in India led to an improvement in air quality and a reduction in land surface temperature in major urban areas across the country. Published: 1 June 2021 Photo by Ravi Sharma from Pexels
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |