Cities in the tropics are forecast to experience rapid population growth this century. We use the long record of satellite observations of multiple air pollutants to estimate recent trends in air quality, diagnose the main drivers of these trends, and estimate the impact on public health in these cities.

Impact of air quality degradation and population growth on public health

People: Karn Vohra

Funding: U. Birmingham Global Challenges scholarship awarded to Karn

External Collaborators: ULB, Harvard

Tools and Data used: OMI, IASI, MODIS, GEOS-Chem

Publications:

K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, S. Suckra, L. Kramer, W. J. Bloss, R. Sahu, A. Gaur, S. N. Tripathi, M. Van Damme, L. Clarisse, P. F. Coheur, Long-term trends in air quality in major cities in the UK and India: A view from space, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6275–6296, doi:10.5194/acp-21-6275-2021. [Link to UCL press release]. [Featured by ACP News&Press]. [PDF]

K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, W. J. Bloss, J. Schwartz, L. J. Mickley, M. Van Damme, L. Clarisse, P.-F. Coheur, Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018 Sci. Adv., doi:10.1126/sciadv.abm4435. [PDF]. [Air pollution trends]. [Premature deaths].

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