Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
Open Access

Abstract

Application of GIS in Visualization and assessment of Ambient Air Quality for SO₂ and NO_x in Sheikhupura City, Pakistan

Shakeel M, Arshad Q, Saeed R, Ahmed T, Khan HMT, Noreen M, Ali A and Munir AR

Air Pollution is the most detrimental form of pollution in our environment. A significant increase has been seen in atmospheric pollutants sources in Asia while it is considered to be primarily an urban problem in Pakistan. Sheikhupura was selected as study area and data was collected randomly from 15 different points of Sheikhupura city. Data used in this research paper is of secondary type collected from EPD, Sheikhupura. One-way-ANOVA and Interpolation (IDW and Kriging) has been applied for the interpretation and analysis of NO_x and SO₂ concentration at sampling sites. Results showed that concentration of NO_x was very high at areas with high road traffic while that of SOx varied differently. The highest value of NO_x found in the study area is 5 ppm while the lowest value is 0.06 ppm, on the other hand the highest value of SO_x found in the study area is 1.9 ppm and the lowest value is 0.1 ppm. The most prone areas to NO_x in Sheikhupura are Jhang Road, Jinnah Park, Rasul Pura and Landa Bazar. And the areas with high concentration of SO_x in Sheikhupura are Ashraf General and Batti Hospital. Proper urban management can help to reduce air pollution.