@article{bray_nahas_battye_aneja_2021, title={Impact of lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak on multi-scale air quality}, volume={254}, ISSN={["1873-2844"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85104410171&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118386}, abstractNote={One of the multi-facet impacts of lockdowns during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic was restricted economic and transport activities. This has resulted in the reduction of air pollution concentrations observed globally. This study is aimed at examining the concentration changes in air pollutants (i.e., carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10) during the period March-April 2020. Data from both satellite observations (for NO2) and ground-based measurements (for all other pollutants) were utilized to analyze the changes when compared against the same months between 2015 and 2019. Globally, space borne NO2 column observations observed by satellite (OMI on Aura) were reduced by approximately 9.19% and 9.57%, in March and April 2020, respectively because of public health measures enforced to contain the coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19). On a regional scale and after accounting for the effects of meteorological variability, most monitoring sites in Europe, USA, China, and India showed declines in CO, NO2, SO2, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations during the period of analysis. An increase in O3 concentrations occurred during the same period. Meanwhile, four major cities case studies i.e. in New York City (USA), Milan (Italy), Wuhan (China), and New Delhi (India) have also shown a similar reduction trends as observed on the regional scale, and an increase in ozone concentration. This study highlights that the reductions in air pollutant concentrations have overall improved global air quality likely driven in part by economic slowdowns resulting from the global pandemic.}, journal={ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT}, author={Bray, Casey D. and Nahas, Alberth and Battye, William H. and Aneja, Viney P.}, year={2021}, month={Jun} } @article{yudistira_sumitro_nahas_riama_2021, title={Learning where to look for COVID-19 growth: Multivariate analysis of COVID-19 cases over time using explainable convolution-LSTM}, volume={109}, ISSN={["1872-9681"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.asoc.2021.107469}, abstractNote={Determinant factors which contribute to the prediction should take into account multivariate analysis for capturing coarse-to-fine contextual information. From the preliminary descriptive analysis, it shows that environmental factor such as UV (ultraviolet) is one of the essential factors that should be considered to observe the COVID-19 epidemic drivers. Moreover, there are education, government, morphological, health, economic, and behavioral factors contributing to the growth of COVID-19. Besides descriptive analysis, in this research, multivariate analysis is considered to provide comprehensive explanations about factors contributing to pandemic dynamics. To achieve rich explanations, visual attribution of explainable Convolution-LSTM is utilized to see high contributing factors responsible for the growth of daily COVID-19 cases. Our model consists of 1 D CNN in the first layer to capture local relationships among variables followed by LSTM layers to capture local dependencies over time. It produces the lowest prediction errors compared to the other existing models. This permits us to employ gradient-based visual attribution for generating saliency maps for each time dimension and variable. These are then used for explaining which variables throughout which period of the interval is contributing for a given time-series prediction, likewise as explaining that during that time intervals were the joint contribution of most vital variables for that prediction. The explanations are useful for stakeholders to make decisions during and post pandemics. The explainable Convolution–LSTMcode is available here: https://github.com/cbasemaster/time-series-attribution.}, journal={APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING}, author={Yudistira, Novanto and Sumitro, Sutiman Bambang and Nahas, Alberth and Riama, Nelly Florida}, year={2021}, month={Sep} } @article{aneja_schlesinger_li_nahas_battye_2020, title={Characterization of the Global Sources of Atmospheric Ammonia from Agricultural Soils}, volume={125}, ISSN={["2169-8996"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031684}, DOI={10.1029/2019JD031684}, abstractNote={AbstractGlobal ammonia (NH3) emissions to the atmosphere are projected to increase in the coming years with the increased use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and cultivation of nitrogen‐fixing crops. A statistical model (NH3_STAT) is developed for characterizing atmospheric NH3 emissions from agricultural soils and compared to the performance of other global and regional NH3 models (e.g., Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research, Magnitude and Seasonality of Agricultural Emissions, MIX, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). The statistical model was developed from a multiple linear regression between NH3 emission and the physicochemical variables. The model was evaluated for 2012 NH3 emissions. The results indicate that, in comparison to other data sets, the model provides a lower global NH3 estimate by 58%, (NH3_STAT: 13.9 Tg N yr−1; Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research: 33.0 Tg N yr−1). We also performed a region‐based analysis (United States, India, and China) using the NH3_STAT model. For the United States, our model produces an estimate that is a ~1.4 times higher in comparison to the Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, the NH3_STAT estimate for India shows NH3 emissions between 0.8 and 1.4 times lower when compared to other data sets. A lower estimate is also seen for China, where the model estimates NH3 emissions 0.4 to 5 times lower than other data sets. The difference in the global estimates is attributed to the lower estimates in major agricultural countries like China and India. The statistical model captures the spatial distribution of global NH3 emissions by utilizing a simplified approach compared to other readily available data sets. Moreover, the NH3_STAT model provides an opportunity to predict future NH3 emissions in a changing world.}, number={3}, journal={JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES}, publisher={American Geophysical Union (AGU)}, author={Aneja, Viney P. and Schlesinger, William H. and Li, Qi and Nahas, Alberth and Battye, William H.}, year={2020}, month={Feb} } @article{aneja_schlesinger_li_nahas_battye_2019, title={Characterization of atmospheric nitrous oxide emissions from global agricultural soils}, volume={1}, ISBN={2523-3971}, url={https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1688-5}, DOI={10.1007/s42452-019-1688-5}, abstractNote={Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas with an atmospheric lifetime of ~ 114 years. Agriculture activities are the main sources for N2O emission into the atmosphere by human activities. Global N2O emissions into the atmosphere are projected to increase in the coming years as demand for food, fibre and energy increases owing to increasing global population. Here, a statistical model (N2O_STAT) is developed for characterizing atmospheric N2O emissions from agricultural sources. We obtained N2O emissions and physicochemical variables (i.e. air temperature, soil temperature, soil moisture, soil pH, and N input to the soil) from published journal articles since 2000. A statistical model was developed by expressing a multiple linear regression equation between N2O emission and the physicochemical variables. The model was evaluated for 2012 N2O emissions. Results of the model are compared with other global and regional N2O models (e.g. EDGAR, EPA/USGS, and FAOSTAT). In comparison with other data sets, the model generates a lower global N2O estimate by 9–20% (N2O_STAT: 3.75 Tg N yr−1; EDGAR: 4.49 Tg N yr−1; FAO: 4.07 Tg N yr−1), but is ~ 25% higher when compared to Bouwman et al. (Glob Biogeochem Cycles 16:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001gb001812 , 2002) (2.80 Tg N yr−1). We also performed a region-based analysis (USA, India, and China) using the N2O_STAT model. For the USA, our model produces an estimate that ranges from − 13 to + 32% in comparison with other published data sets. Meanwhile, the N2O_STAT model estimate for India shows N2O emissions between − 56 and + 14% when compared to other data sets. A much lower estimate is seen for China, where the model estimates N2O emissions 38–177% lower than other data sets. The N2O_STAT model provides an opportunity to predict future N2O emissions in a changing world.}, number={12}, journal={SN APPLIED SCIENCES}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Aneja, Viney P. and Schlesinger, William H. and Li, Qi and Nahas, Alberth and Battye, William H.}, year={2019}, month={Dec} }