The lockdown in India is significantly lowering severe air pollution it has been battling for decades. NASA reported that the aerosol levels in the region, especially northern India, have dropped to a 20-year low.
Since the government sent roughly 1.3 billion Indians under a tight lockdown, the air pollution has been gradually softening. The regulation has been causing human activities to halt almost completely.
During the MODIS observations, NASA noticed a notable difference in aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements in India between 2020 and 2016-2019. Aerosols from human-made sources had been polluting Indian cities every year.
NASA already saw declining levels of aerosols in India after the first seven days of nation-wide lockdown. However, the decline was mainly due to the combinations of rains and the lockdown itself.
Nonetheless, when the rains poured no more, the pollution level did not elevate. Instead, it kept on decreasing gradually, following the absence of human activities that contribute to the issue, such as industries, transportation, and so forth.
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How Lockdown Managed to Reduce Air Pollution in India
Pawan Gupta, a Universities Space Research Association scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, explained that he did not expect the pollution level to be this low during the lockdown.
“We knew we would see changes in atmospheric composition in many places during the lockdown. But I have never seen aerosol values so low in the Indo-Gangetic Plain at this time of year.”
Indo-Gangetic Plain mainly consists of areas of Northern India. For years, the aerosols from the region were mostly from human activities.
Motor vehicles, coal power plants, and industrial sectors responsibly contributes to the dense levels of air pollution. Additionally, human activities at rural areas, such as cooking and farm burning, are also responsible for such feat.
Considering the level of pollution, it peaked in May this year. Following the escalation is a radical decline in April, putting it as the lowest point in the first time in 20 years.
The 2020 lockdown has prevented human-made emissions from worsening the condition. However, scientists at NASA expect that it will raise again as dust storms are approaching.
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