Spatiotemporal Analysis of Carbon Monoxide (CO) Column Density from Sentinel-5P along the Central Highway of Peru Using Google Earth Engine

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal variability of carbon monoxide (CO) column density along the Lima–Huancayo section of the Central Highway in Peru during the 2019–2024 period, using data from the TROPOMI instrument onboard the Sentinel-5P satellite and official records of vehicular traffic flow. An approach based on remote sensing and exploratory statistical analysis is employed to examine the spatial and temporal patterns of atmospheric CO and its co-variability with vehicular activity at representative control points along the highway corridor. The results show heterogeneous spatial patterns and differentiated temporal behaviors, as well as statistical associations between traffic variability and CO column density at a regional and long-term scale. Given that satellite observations represent vertically integrated atmospheric content and that explicit meteorological variables are not incorporated, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory, non-causal relationships that contribute to understanding the regional dynamics of CO in transportation corridors located in complex Andean environments.