The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to global health and economic stability. Intriguingly, the necessary lockdown measures, while disruptive to human society, inadvertently led to environmental rejuvenation, particularly noticeable in decreased air pollution and improved vegetation health. This study investigates the lockdown’s impact on vegetation health in Jharkhand, India, employing the Google Earth Engine for cloud-based data analysis. MODIS-NDVI data were analyzed using spatio-temporal NDVI analyses and time-series models. These analyses revealed a notable increase in maximum vegetation greenery of 19% from April 2019 to 2020, with subsequent increases of 13% and 3% observed in March and May of the same year, respectively. A longer-term analysis from 2000 to 2020 displayed an overall 16.7% rise in vegetation greenness. While the maximum value remained relatively constant, it demonstrated a slight increment during the dry season. The Landsat data Mann–Kendall trend test reinforced these findings, displaying a significant shift from a negative NDVI trend (1984–2019) to a positive 17.7% trend (1984–2021) in Jharkhand’s north-west region. The precipitation (using NASA power and Merra2 data) and NDVI correlation were also studied during the pre- and lockdown periods. Maximum precipitation (350–400 mm) was observed in June, while July typically experienced around 300 mm precipitation, covering nearly 85% of Jharkhand. Interestingly, August 2020 saw up to 550 mm precipitation, primarily in Jharkhand’s southern region, compared to 400 mm in the same month in 2019. Peak changes in NDVI value during this period ranged between 0.6–0.76 and 0.76–1, observed throughout the state. Although the decrease in air pollution led to improved vegetation health, these benefits began to diminish post-lockdown. This observation underscores the need for immediate attention and intervention from scientists and researchers. Understanding lockdown-induced environmental changes and their impact on vegetation health can facilitate the development of proactive environmental management strategies, paving the way towards a sustainable and resilient future.

Kashmir Valley has witnessed a catastrophic flood in 2014, which led thousands of people homeless and devastated the agricultural lands. In the present study, the impact of 2014 flood occurred during the month of September was analysed in the vicinity of Dal lake using the pre- and post-flood periods satellite observations. The study exhibited an inundation of 42.50 km² area (52.47% of total area) during September 2014 flood period, which is primarily topographical low-lying area (i.e. below 1530 m). The land use/land cover (LULC) analysis during pre- and post-flood periods exhibited significant impact over the built-up land with 20.4% decrease in the built-up (from 25.44 to 20.25 km²), which was mostly evident in the western, southern and eastern parts of Dal lake. It has also severely affected the road network with inundation of 220.84 kms (55.62% of total road network). The road network in the lower elevation (< 1530 m) not only disrupted but also acted as a carrier for the flood water dispersal in the region. The long-term impact and recovery of flood inundation were assessed using spatio-temporal built-up growth during 2014, 2015 and 2018 within the flooded zone through geospatial overlay analysis. The flood (September 2014) affected a total 10.42 km² of built-up, wherein the built-up was reduced to 7.50 km², due to the low-lying topography and nearest proximity to flow path of Jhelum river. Later, the built-up was increased to 9.60 km² within the flooded zone during 2018 primarily in the southern parts, representing the long-term recovery after the flood aftermath. Although the impact of flood (2014) was evident in both the flooded and non-flooded zones, the built-up growth was reduced significantly in the flooded zone (− 25.18% change) as compared to non-flooded zones (− 17.32% change). Also, the long-term recovery was comparatively higher in the non-flooded zone (31.84% growth) as compared to the flooded zone (28.03% growth). The study necessitates towards implication of effective urban planning method primarily along the major lakes in order to reduce the increasing impact of catastrophic flood.

The flood in Kashmir valley has a long history and is considered as recurrent phenomena, though the flood occurred in 2014 was extremely severe due to its extent, intensity and impact on mankind. To understand the variation of this precarious climatic condition, the long-term variability of precipitation over Kashmir valley was analysed over a period of 1901–2018 on an annual, seasonal, monthly and weekly basis to investigate the pattern of precipitation and its linkage to flooding. The mean annual precipitation analysis exhibits only few (06) severe incidences (>1226mm). Sen’s slope estimation exhibited a statistically positive trend during winter season (0.458 mm year⁻¹) as compared to rainy season (-0.661 mm year⁻¹) at the 5% level of significance. The major deficit (> −99%) in precipitation anomaly was recorded forming the September month as anomalous. September 2014 exceptionally confronted one incidence of sudden but continuous weekly high precipitation (>130 mm) with intensity of 22.82 mm day⁻¹ during 15 years.

This study delves into the patterns of urban expansion in Kabul, using Landsat and Sentinel satellite imagery as primary tools for analysis. We classified land use and land cover (LULC) into five distinct categories: water bodies, vegetation, barren land, barren rocky terrain, and buildings. The necessary data processing and analysis was conducted using ERDAS Imagine v.2015 and ArcGIS 10.8 software. Our main objective was to scrutinize changes in LULC across five discrete decades. Additionally, we traced the long-term evolution of built-up areas in Kabul from 1973 to 2020. The classified satellite images revealed significant changes across all categories. For instance, the area of built-up land reduced from 29.91% in 2013 to 23.84% in 2020, while barren land saw a decrease from 33.3% to 28.4% over the same period. Conversely, the proportion of barren rocky terrain exhibited an increase from 22.89% in 2013 to 29.97% in 2020. Minor yet notable shifts were observed in the categories of water bodies and vegetated land use. The percentage of water bodies shrank from 2.51% in 2003 to 1.30% in 2013, and the extent of vegetated land use showed a decline from 13.61% in 2003 to 12.6% in 2013. Our study unveiled evolving land use patterns over time, with specific periods recording an increase in barren land and a slight rise in vegetated areas. These findings underscored the dynamic transformation of Kabul’s urban landscape over the years, with significant implications for urban planning and sustainability.