Date of Award
Spring 5-2-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Geography
First Advisor
Wenge Ni-Meister
Second Advisor
Peter Marcotullio
Academic Program Adviser
Shipeng Sun
Abstract
Air pollution is one of the biggest health hazards known to humans. The quality of the air that we breath is mainly determined by the level of six major air pollutants, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Particulate Matter 10 (PM 10), Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and Ozone (O3). The main source of these air pollutants are fossil fuels (Oil, Coal and Natural gas). Their levels in the air are reported using an Air Quality Index (AQI). Higher AQI values indicate bad air quality and vice versa. In this study we have investigated and compared the difference in AQI values and associated trends during Covid-19 and non-Covid- 19 years. in five metro (Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso) areas of Texas between 2019 and 2023. We performed this analysis using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) Kriging, Arc GIS Pro and python programming tools. Our results indicate that there were no significant differences observed for daily AQI values between Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 years for major cities in Texas. Ozone, Particulate Matter 10 (PM 10), Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) and Nitrogen dioxide are pollutants of concern in our study area. However, the AQI for carbon monoxide and Sulfur dioxide remains within the healthy air quality range, these pollutants should be monitored continuously due to their potential hazard to human health.
Recommended Citation
Sahajpal, Rahul, "Assessing the effect of Covid-19 on air quality for five Texas metro areas using daily Air Quality Index values" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1298
Comments
This is a revised version of the thesis. It was revised based on the advisement of the Thesis committee.