El-Zeiny Ahmed, Nagy Alaa, Nour-Eldin Hoda
Environmental Studies Department, National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science (Girls Branch), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 28;15(1):31718. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17019-9.
Air pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges globally, with significant consequences for public health and ecosystems. Recently, Gharbia Governorate has undergone remarkable changes in land use/land cover (LULC), leading to a variety of environmental impacts. These transformations have raised concerns about their potential influence on air quality, making it crucial to investigate how shifts in LULC are affecting pollution levels in the region. Understanding this relationship is vital for developing sustainable land management strategies and improving air quality monitoring in the area. This study aims to employ remotely sensed data integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS) to monitor the LULC changes and evaluate their influences on the governorate's air quality. Two Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager data, as OLI acquired in 2023, 2013, and Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper data, as TM 5 acquired in 2003, were used. A maximum likelihood classifier was used to produce a land cover map and track changes in land cover of the study area. Aqua, Terra, and Sentinel-5P were employed to measure the PM, CO, NO and SO concentrations. The classification results identified two dominant LULC classes: cultivated land and urban area. Between 2003 and 2023, urban areas increased by 136.2 km, while cultivated lands declined by 135.94 km, reflecting significant urban expansion. This land conversion was associated with a marked impact on air quality. PM concentrations ranged between 7.12 and 8.66 µg/m during the study period. Notably, NO levels peaked during autumn (3.13 µg/m), while elevated CO and SO concentrations were observed in summer (946.79 µg/m) and winter (8 µg/m), respectively. The highest pollutant levels were consistently recorded in the recently expanded urban areas compared to other land use categories. These findings demonstrate that urban sprawl has a significant and direct impact on air quality, highlighting the need for integrated land-use planning and air pollution control. The generated data provides a valuable foundation for sustainable development and environmental decision-making in Gharbia Governorate.
空气污染已成为全球最紧迫的环境挑战之一，对公众健康和生态系统产生重大影响。最近，加比亚省的土地利用/土地覆盖（LULC）发生了显著变化，导致了各种环境影响。这些转变引发了人们对其对空气质量潜在影响的担忧，因此调查LULC的变化如何影响该地区的污染水平至关重要。了解这种关系对于制定可持续的土地管理策略和改善该地区的空气质量监测至关重要。本研究旨在利用与地理信息系统（GIS）集成的遥感数据来监测LULC变化，并评估其对该省空气质量的影响。使用了2023年、2013年获取的两颗Landsat 8 业务陆地成像仪数据（OLI）以及2003年获取的Landsat 5专题制图仪数据（TM 5）。使用最大似然分类器生成土地覆盖图并跟踪研究区域土地覆盖的变化。利用Aqua、Terra和哨兵-5P卫星来测量PM、CO、NO和SO的浓度。分类结果确定了两个主要的LULC类别：耕地和城市地区。在2003年至2023年期间，城市面积增加了136.2平方公里，而耕地面积减少了135.94平方公里，反映出显著的城市扩张。这种土地转换对空气质量产生了明显影响。在研究期间，PM浓度在7.12至8.66微克/立方米之间。值得注意的是，NO水平在秋季达到峰值（3.13微克/立方米），而CO和SO浓度分别在夏季（946.79微克/立方米）和冬季（8微克/立方米）出现升高。与其他土地利用类别相比，最近扩张的城市地区污染物水平始终最高。这些发现表明，城市扩张对空气质量有重大直接影响，凸显了综合土地利用规划和空气污染控制的必要性。生成的数据为加比亚省的可持续发展和环境决策提供了宝贵的基础。
