Variations in the aerosol index and its relationship with meteorological parameters over Pakistan using remote sensing

Particulate pollution has become a major issue in developing countries including Pakistan. Aerosols are causing severe impacts on climate and human health. To understand the effects of aerosols on the environment and human health, we must first understand their optical and physical properties. In this paper, we used ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) retrieved ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) to analyze spatial and temporal distribution, annual and seasonal trends of absorbing aerosols, and their relationship with meteorological parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed) over Pakistan from October 2004 to December 2021. Significant spatiotemporal changes in UVAI values were found with high values in southern and central regions and low values in northern regions of Pakistan. The mean UVAI over Pakistan showed an increasing trend of 2.89% year(−1). Seasonally, UVAI increases at the rate of 3.97% winter(−1), 3.24% autumn(−1), 0.81% summer(−1), and 0.71% spring(−1). A strong positive correlation of UVAI with precipitation and temperature (~ 0.6) is observed in the central and southern regions of Pakistan. A negative and positive correlation of −0.3223 and 0.4284 of UVAI with CO(2) emissions and primary industry is observed in Pakistan, respectively. We also found potential sources of aerosols over major cities of Pakistan using the Hybrid Single Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. It determines that the dominant aerosols over Karachi are natural aerosols like sea salt and dust particles and anthropogenic aerosols are dominant over Lahore. Moreover, the natural and anthropogenic factors influencing absorbing aerosols are also discussed herein. Considering the outcomes of this study different methods would be used to reduce the concentration of particulate pollution like afforestation, efficient fuel energy consumption, promotion of public transport networks, etc.