ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing
This article is part of the Research TopicHeat Stress and Public Health Issues: Impacts, Adaptation, and MitigationView all 7 articles
Assessing Air Quality Variations in Relation to Vegetation Patterns and Meteorological Conditions using Remote Sensing
Provisionally accepted
- South African National Space Agency, Pretoria, South Africa
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Rapid industrialization, urban expansion, and the growth of transportation networks have significantly increased air pollutant emissions, especially in urban and peri-urban areas of developing nations. This study investigates the interplay among air quality, vegetation condition, and meteorological variables across two contrasting environments: the highly urbanized area of Sandton and the semi-urban setting of Tembisa. By comparing these locations, the research assesses how varying degrees of urbanization shape the relationships between atmospheric pollutants, ecological health, and local climate dynamics. During summer (DJF), Sandton recorded relatively low NO₂ concentrations (5–7 µg/m³) alongside high Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) values (0.4–0.67), reflecting extensive, healthy vegetation maintained through urban greenery such as trees, irrigated gardens, and landscaped areas. Vegetation remained comparatively stable year-round, with high summer greenness and only moderate winter decline, indicating a more persistent vegetative cover than in Tembisa. Tembisa, by contrast, showed fragmented and strongly seasonal vegetation, with reduced greenness outside summer and a pronounced decline in winter. In the winter months (JJA), environmental variables in Tembisa exhibited strong interrelationships: NO₂ and land surface temperature (LST) were highly positively correlated (r = 0.98), while MSAVI and precipitation showed a strong negative correlation (r = –0.89), suggesting that winter rainfall may negatively affect vegetation through processes such as waterlogging, erosion, or runoff. In Sandton, however, only weak winter correlations were detected among these variables, indicating that precipitation has minimal influence on vegetation, temperature, and SO₂ levels within this urban environment.
Keywords: Climate Change, Earth Observation, Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sustaianability
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ngebe, Ngcoliso and Shikwambana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lerato Shikwambana
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