Dataset Information

Disentangling the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Urban NO₂ From Natural Variability.

ABSTRACT: TROPOMI satellite data show substantial drops in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) during COVID-19 physical distancing. To attribute NO₂ changes to NO _x emissions changes over short timescales, one must account for meteorology. We find that meteorological patterns were especially favorable for low NO₂ in much of the United States in spring 2020, complicating comparisons with spring 2019. Meteorological variations between years can cause column NO₂ differences of ~15% over monthly timescales. After accounting for solar angle and meteorological considerations, we calculate that NO₂ drops ranged between 9.2% and 43.4% among 20 cities in North America, with a median of 21.6%. Of the studied cities, largest NO₂ drops (>30%) were in San Jose, Los Angeles, and Toronto, and smallest drops (<12%) were in Miami, Minneapolis, and Dallas. These normalized NO₂ changes can be used to highlight locations with greater activity changes and better understand the sources contributing to adverse air quality in each city.

SUBMITTER: Goldberg DL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7461033 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Disentangling the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Urban NO2 From Natural Variability.

Goldberg Daniel L DL Anenberg Susan C SC Griffin Debora D McLinden Chris A CA Lu Zifeng Z Streets David G DG

Geophysical research letters 20200905 17

TROPOMI satellite data show substantial drops in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) during COVID-19 physical distancing. To attribute NO2 changes to NO x emissions changes over short timescales, one must account for meteorology. We find that meteorological patterns were especially favorable for low NO2 in much of the United States in spring 2020, complicating comparisons with spring 2019. Meteorological variations between years can cause column NO2</su ...[more]

PMID: 32904906

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Project description:In urban areas, industrial and human activities are the prime cause that exacerbates the heating effects, also called the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the proportion of vegetation (Pv) are indicators of measurement of the heating/urbanization effects. In the present work, we investigated the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, i.e., restricted human activities. We used Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS (level 1) data to investigate spatial and temporal heterogeneity changes in these urbanization indicators during full and partial lockdown periods in 2020 and 2021, with 2019 as the base year. We have selected three cities in India's eastern coal mining belt, Bokaro, Dhanbad, and Ranchi, for the study. Results showed a significant decrease in LST values over all sites, with a maximum reduction over mining sites, i.e., Bokaro and Dhanbad. The LST value decreased by about 13-19% during the lockdown period. Vegetation indices (i.e., NDVI and Pv) showed a substantial increase of about 15% overall sites. With decreased LST values and increased NDVI values, these quantities' correlations became more negative during the lockdown period. More positive changes are noticed over mining sites than non/less mining sites. This indirectly indicates the reduction in the heat-absorbing particles in the environment and surface of these sites, a possible cause for the reduction in LST values substantially. Reduction in coal particles at the land and vegetation surface likely contributed to decreased LST and enhanced vegetation indices. To check the statistical significance of changes in the UHI indicators in the lockdown period, statistical tests (ANOVA and Tukey's test) are performed. Results indicate that most of the case changes have been significant. The study's finding suggests the lockdown's positive impact on the heating/UHI effects. It emphasizes the need for planned lockdowns as city mitigation strategies to overcome pollution and environmental issues.

Dataset Information

Disentangling the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Urban NO₂ From Natural Variability.

Publications

Disentangling the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Urban NO<sub>2</sub> From Natural Variability.

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