Spatial and Temporal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth Using MODIS Data in Google Earth Engine: A Study of Aligarh, India

  • Unique Paper ID: 207351
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 3
  • PageNo: 1472-1483
  • Abstract:
  • Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data from the MODIS MCD19A2 Version 6.1 satellite data collected over the period 2021-2025 and analyzed in Google Earth Engine (GEE) is used in this study to look at the spatial and temporal variability of it over Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Daily 1 km resolution satellite data were quality filtered and aggregated into monthly, seasonal and yearly AOD products. Spatial analysis indicated that the mean AOD was 0.04-0.26, with the highest AOD levels (0.22-0.40) being found to the east and in the middle part of the region, and that annual AOD ranged from 0.00-0.40, with higher values (0.22-0.40) to the east and middle parts of the region. The monthly AOD ranged from 0.09 to 0.33 with 0.33 recorded in April 2021 and 0.09 in June-July 2023. The difference between seasonal mean AOD was the highest in winter (0.22) and the lowest in monsoon (0.16), resulting in a seasonal difference of 0.06. Annual mean AOD declined from 0.226 (2021) to 0.161 (2023), increased to 0.206 (2024), and slightly decreased to 0.175 (2025). The monthly anomalies were found to be between -0.084 and +0.068, with more than 80,000 observations inside 0.20-0.25 AOD range, showing the suitability applicability of GEE for long-term monitoring of aerosols and air quality evaluation.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{207351,
        author = {Tariq Mansoor},
        title = {Spatial and Temporal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth Using MODIS Data in Google Earth Engine: A Study of Aligarh, India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {3},
        pages = {1472-1483},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=207351},
        abstract = {Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data from the MODIS MCD19A2 Version 6.1 satellite data collected over the period 2021-2025 and analyzed in Google Earth Engine (GEE) is used in this study to look at the spatial and temporal variability of it over Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Daily 1 km resolution satellite data were quality filtered and aggregated into monthly, seasonal and yearly AOD products. Spatial analysis indicated that the mean AOD was 0.04-0.26, with the highest AOD levels (0.22-0.40) being found to the east and in the middle part of the region, and that annual AOD ranged from 0.00-0.40, with higher values (0.22-0.40) to the east and middle parts of the region. The monthly AOD ranged from 0.09 to 0.33 with 0.33 recorded in April 2021 and 0.09 in June-July 2023. The difference between seasonal mean AOD was the highest in winter (0.22) and the lowest in monsoon (0.16), resulting in a seasonal difference of 0.06. Annual mean AOD declined from 0.226 (2021) to 0.161 (2023), increased to 0.206 (2024), and slightly decreased to 0.175 (2025). The monthly anomalies were found to be between -0.084 and +0.068, with more than 80,000 observations inside 0.20-0.25 AOD range, showing the suitability applicability of GEE for long-term monitoring of aerosols and air quality evaluation.},
        keywords = {Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), MODIS MCD19A2, Google Earth Engine (GEE), Spatio-temporal Analysis, Air Quality Monitoring},
        month = {August},
        }

Cite This Article

Mansoor, T. (2026). Spatial and Temporal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth Using MODIS Data in Google Earth Engine: A Study of Aligarh, India. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT). https://doi.org/doi.org/10.64643/IJIRTV13I3-207351-459

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