A latest analysis by the three renowned space agencies- NASA dashboard, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency has revealed that concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has dropped to its lowest level in April this year.
Air quality in Delhi, Mumbai improves! A latest analysis by the three renowned space agencies- NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency has revealed that concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has dropped to its lowest level in April this year since July 2018 over Delhi and Mumbai region in India. According to the data provided on the Covid-19 Earth Observation NASA dashboard, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere started reducing from March 16 and dropped significantly during the first phase of the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the Coronavirus transmission across the country.
All the three agencies have put their data together and tracked the changes in the atmosphere. The data has been collated and presented in a Covid-19 Earth Observation Dashboard. The aim is to track all the changes taking place regarding the economic activity, agriculture and atmosphere during the Coronavirus pandemic.
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In a statement released on the dashboard, the agencies said “India has shown less air pollution during lockdown that too in selected cities, such as New Delhi and Mumbai.” It added that when the time frames of this year and last year are compared, a reduction of about 40-50 per cent has been witnessed in air pollution levels. However, it highlighted that the reductions in NO2 content is not consistent across the country. While a dip has been seen in Delhi and Mumbai, North-eastern states in India showed constant levels of air pollution on the back of ongoing operations in plants that are coal-based as electric power generation did not reduce during lockdown.
As of April 13, the NO2 levels in the tropospheric region over Delhi had dropped to 31.3 micromoles per square meter (µmol/m2). This is the lowest level witnessed after July 9, 2018, according to Covid-19 Earth Observation Dashboard. When compared to the same period in 2019, the NO2 concentration over Delhi was recorded at 113.9 µmol/m2 which is more than three times the level recorded in April 2020.
Originally Publish at: https://www.financialexpress.com/