Investigation of the impact of urban vegetation on air pollutants based on remotely sensed measurements: a case study in Shenzhen, China

The spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric pollutants (especially PM2.5), which may cause adverse effects on human health and the environment, are affected by urban vegetation through deposition and dispersion processes. Although lots of studies have been conducted to investigate this effect, we still lack the knowledge of how urban vegetation reduces PM2.5 and other air pollutions quantitatively. In this study, Landsat 8 data are used to retrieve the urban surface parameters (including Leaf Area Index and Normalized Difference Impervious Surface Index). Meanwhile, hourly PM2.5 and other air pollutions concentrations over a period of one year (from Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2016) were obtained at a real-time air quality monitoring system in Shenzhen, P.R. China. It is found that, urban vegetation has little effect on air pollutants. Meanwhile, the results show that, a strong relationship between impervious surface and air pollutants are found.