Analysis of The Effect of Deforestation Rates on Air Pollution Concentration and Land Surface Temperature Using Landsat-8 Imagery with Google Earth Engine (Case Study: East Kalimantan Province, 2019-2020)

Abstract

The increase in population triggers an increase in deforestation rates. According to data from Ministry of Environment and Forestry, East Kalimantan’s highest deforestation rate reached 54.8 thousand hectares in 2018-2019. This study analyzed the effect of deforestation rates on air pollutant concentrations (SO2 and NO2) and land surface temperature (LST) in East Kalimantan in 2019-2020 with Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform using Landsat 8 Level 2 surface reflectance imagery. The TIR channel was converted into brightness temperature which further used as the input in LST estimation using Mono-Window Algorithm, SO2 estimation using Hasan Algorithm (2014), and NO2 estimation using Alseroury Algorithm (2015). During 2019-2020, the average LST value was 24.2 °C, which was increased by 2.0 °C from the previous year. The maximum NO2 concentration was 189.771 g/m3. The annual average NO2 concentration increased by 0.757 g/m³ from the previous year. The maximum concentration of SO2 was 0.521 ppm. The annual average SO2 concentration increased by 0.011 ppm from the previous year. To determine the effect of deforestation rates on the concentration of SO2, NO2 and LST, the Pearson correlation test was carried out. The correlation coefficient between deforestation rates and SO2 is R = 0.949 (very strong correlation); correlation coefficient between deforestation rates and NO2 is R = 0.889 (very strong correlation); and the correlation coefficient between the deforestation rates and the LST is R = 0.887 (very strong correlation). This shows that the higher deforestation rates, will caused in the higher concentration of SO2, NO2, and LST.