Spatiotemporal analysis of the link between VCD_trop NO₂ and population size for provinces in Sumatra Island during 2012-2020

ABSTRACT

Nitrogen dioxide is one of the primary air contaminants that can cause severe ecological and human health effects. This study used the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) sensor aboard AURA satellite to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of VCD_trop (Tropospheric vertical Columnar density) NO₂ concentration in Sumatra, Indonesia, during 2012–2020. Based on the seasonal characteristics, the VCD_trop NO₂ amounts in the east part of Sumatra were higher in the dry season and slightly lower in the wet season. The increasing trend was recorded in some provinces; North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, and Lampung with the accumulation rate around 8–9 × 10¹⁵ molecules/cm² from 2012 to 2014. Higher VCD_trop NO₂ concentrations were associated with an increase in population size. As a whole, this finding can be useful to arrange air pollution management associated with population growth in urban areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Meteorological factor
• population exposure
• environment
• spatial variation
• VCD_trop NO₂

Disclosure statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Author contributions statement

Conceptualization and supervision: MR; writing review and editing: MR, WMRI, THA, TEA, SN, and ND; data curation and formal analysis: MR, WMRI and MTL; evidence collection, review, and editing: MR, WMRI, HGA, HA and MTL.

Availability of Data and material

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.