SPACE-BORNE AIR POLLUTION OBSERVATION FROM SENTINEL-5P TROPOMI: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLLUTANTS, GEOGRAPHICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of the mean atmospheric column nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) over the Republic of North Macedonia during a six-month period. Measurements of NO2and CO obtained from the recently launched Sentinel-5 Precursor spacecraft with TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (Sentinel-5P TROPOMI) have been used. The aim of this study was to use relatively high-resolution satellite data for local air quality/air pollution monitoring and to investigate the relation of the pollutants with geographical and demographical data of the study area. For that purpose, alongwithCO and NO2data from TROPOMI, population statistics, digital elevation model and vegetation cover havebeen used for geo-spatial and statistical analyses. The findingsshow significantly high CO and NO2values in several parts of the study area, especially high CO values in the Vardar and Polog Valleys, and high NO2values in the denselypopulated cities. According to the analyses, there is high positive correlation between the NO2and the population statistics (r = 0.78; R2= 0.61) and high negative correlation (r = -0.9; R2= 0.80) between the altitude and the CO values of the study area. The overall results of this study confirmed the capability of Sentinel-5PTROPOMI data to be used in monitoring the air quality and air pollution over local areas.