Air Quality Improved During India Lockdown by Colleen Fleiss on June 5, 2021 at 11:27 PM In India, the first COVID-19 lockdown led to an improvement in air quality and a reduction in land surface temperature in major urban areas across the country, revealed research by scientists from University of Southampton (UK) and the Central University of Jharkhand (India). The study found that travel and work restrictions imposed early in the pandemic resulted in a significant environmental improvement, due to an abrupt reduction in industrial activities and a major decrease in the use of land and air transport. The international team used data from a range of Earth Observation sensors, including those from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5p and NASA's MODIS sensors, to measure changes in surface temperature and atmospheric pollutants and aerosols. They concentrated on six major urban areas: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad - comparing data from the 2020 March to May lockdown with pre-pandemic years.