Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut

Air pollution is an important cause of concern and has a significant impact on health as well as the environment. Air pollutants are released into the atmosphere by various sources, and the concentration in cities is mainly due to anthropogenic sources like emissions from industries, factories, vehi...

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Main Authors: Jayalakshmi S., Jayanthi B., Ezhilarasi R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2023-01-01
Series:MATEC Web of Conferences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/pdf/2023/11/matecconf_spice23_01003.pdf
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author Jayalakshmi S.
Jayanthi B.
Ezhilarasi R.
author_facet Jayalakshmi S.
Jayanthi B.
Ezhilarasi R.
author_sort Jayalakshmi S.
collection DOAJ
description Air pollution is an important cause of concern and has a significant impact on health as well as the environment. Air pollutants are released into the atmosphere by various sources, and the concentration in cities is mainly due to anthropogenic sources like emissions from industries, factories, vehicles, fossil fuel combustion, waste production, etc. But certain high episodes of air pollution can be witnessed in cities which can cause serious threats to human beings and the environment. Remote sensing is one of the sustainable measures, which allows the integration and presentation of useful information at various temporal and spatial scales. This tool can be helpful in understanding and managing natural disasters and man-made risks contributing to air pollution. Analyzing the cause of such high pollution episodes can help to take necessary steps to reduce the emissions, and damage or to take precautions to avoid man-made disasters. One such incident of an explosion of ammonium nitrate in a port had a long-lasting impact on the air quality in Beirut where the average concentration of air pollution already exceeds WHO threshold limits. This paper explores the concentration of aerosols and NO2, before and after the incident of an explosion that took place in Beirut. Assessment of the damage near the port caused by the explosion in Beirut was done using a change detection technique for which an algorithm was developed. Due to the non-availability of field data for the study area of Beirut, the algorithm was developed and validated for Chennai city and extended to Beirut. The aerosol and NO2 concentration data were extracted from sentinel-5p/TROPOMOI and validated with ground data through regression analysis. The results obtained from this study can be used as an early warning system and decision support system for mitigating loss due to the explosion.
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spelling doaj.art-e90b61f3390c4c91ad1421f667bbc1022023-11-07T10:33:05ZengEDP SciencesMATEC Web of Conferences2261-236X2023-01-013840100310.1051/matecconf/202338401003matecconf_spice23_01003Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of BeirutJayalakshmi S.0Jayanthi B.1Ezhilarasi R.2Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering GuindyPh.D. Research Scholar, Department of Architecture and Planning, College of Engineering GuindyPg student, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering GuindyAir pollution is an important cause of concern and has a significant impact on health as well as the environment. Air pollutants are released into the atmosphere by various sources, and the concentration in cities is mainly due to anthropogenic sources like emissions from industries, factories, vehicles, fossil fuel combustion, waste production, etc. But certain high episodes of air pollution can be witnessed in cities which can cause serious threats to human beings and the environment. Remote sensing is one of the sustainable measures, which allows the integration and presentation of useful information at various temporal and spatial scales. This tool can be helpful in understanding and managing natural disasters and man-made risks contributing to air pollution. Analyzing the cause of such high pollution episodes can help to take necessary steps to reduce the emissions, and damage or to take precautions to avoid man-made disasters. One such incident of an explosion of ammonium nitrate in a port had a long-lasting impact on the air quality in Beirut where the average concentration of air pollution already exceeds WHO threshold limits. This paper explores the concentration of aerosols and NO2, before and after the incident of an explosion that took place in Beirut. Assessment of the damage near the port caused by the explosion in Beirut was done using a change detection technique for which an algorithm was developed. Due to the non-availability of field data for the study area of Beirut, the algorithm was developed and validated for Chennai city and extended to Beirut. The aerosol and NO2 concentration data were extracted from sentinel-5p/TROPOMOI and validated with ground data through regression analysis. The results obtained from this study can be used as an early warning system and decision support system for mitigating loss due to the explosion.https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/pdf/2023/11/matecconf_spice23_01003.pdfair pollutionaerosolno2satellite datadamage assessment
spellingShingle Jayalakshmi S.
Jayanthi B.
Ezhilarasi R.
Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
MATEC Web of Conferences
air pollution
aerosol
no2
satellite data
damage assessment
title Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
title_full Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
title_fullStr Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
title_short Assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of Beirut
title_sort assessment of air quality and damage caused after an anthropogenic disaster in the city of beirut
topic air pollution
aerosol
no2
satellite data
damage assessment
url https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/pdf/2023/11/matecconf_spice23_01003.pdf
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