Military operations conducted in 2022 within the radioactively contaminated territories of the Chornobyl exclusion zone and mandatory resettlement zones created an unprecedented compounded environmental threat, combining radiological legacy contamination with acute wartime emissions. Ground-based monitoring became impossible under occupation and mine-hazard conditions, necessitating exclusive reliance on satellite remote sensing for atmospheric assessment. This study assessed the impact of combat operations on the dynamics of atmospheric pollutant concentrations over Chornobyl-affected territories in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions across three comparable time windows: a pre-war reference period in 2021, the occupation phase in spring 2022, and the post-de-occupation period in spring 2023. Sentinel-5P satellite data processed via Google Earth Engine were used to derive surface-level mass concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide, alongside the aerosol index. To support a consistent comparison between the analysed periods, a dynamic scale classification approach was applied and and the detection of local anomalies across all study years simultaneously was enabled. Results showed marked deterioration of air quality during active hostilities. Maximum nitrogen dioxide concentrations rose by over 60% relative to baseline; carbon monoxide levels indicative of widespread forest fires exceeded all peacetime values; sulfur dioxide increased more than fourteenfold on average. The aerosol index shifted from values characteristic of clean air toward those indicating absorbing aerosols, confirming large-scale resuspension of radioactive dust. By 2023, concentrations partially recovered but remained above pre-war levels. Although absolute gas concentrations did not exceed permissible health limits, the interaction of these pollutants with resuspended radionuclide-bearing dust particles represents a sustained long-term ecological risk.
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