22
April
2020
|
10:35 AM
America/New_York

USRA's Pawan Gupta's recent work published by NASA Earth Observatory

Columbia MD--April 22, 2020.  Recent research conducted by USRA's Pawan Gupta  and the NASA team at Marshall Space Flight Center showed aerosol particles plummeting over northern India because of decreased activities resulting from COVID-19. The NASA Satellite data shows a significant decrease in aerosol levels across northern India. The decrease in aerosol levels was observed after just a week of reduced human activity and the data presents a 20-year low in aerosol levels for this time of year in northern India.

The first five maps above show aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements over India during the same March 31 to April 5 period for each year from 2016 through 2020. The sixth map (anomaly) shows how AOD in 2020 compared to the average for 2016-2019.

The first five maps above show aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements over India during the same March 31 to April 5 period for each year from 2016 through 2020. The sixth map (anomaly) shows how AOD in 2020 compared to the average for 2016-2019. Image credit: NASA

NASA's Earth Observatory published the article. The data were retrieved by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146596/airborne-particle-levels-plummet-in-northern-india?utm_source=carousel&utm_campaign=home

The story was covered by several news organizations including: