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Geospatial analysis of COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality in the South and Southeast Asian region.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic, induced by the novel Coronavirus worldwide outbreak, is causing countries to introduce different types of lockdown measures to curb the contagion. The implementation of strict lockdown policies has had unprecedented impacts on air quality globally. This study is an attempt to assess the effects of COVID-19 induced lockdown measures on air quality in both regional, country, and city scales in the South and Southeast Asian region using open-source satellite-based data and software frameworks. We performed a systematic review of the national lockdown measures of 19 countries of the study area based on publicly available materials. We considered two temporal settings over a period of 66 days to assess and compare the effects of lockdown measures on air quality levels between standard business as usual and current situation COVID-19 lockdown. Results showed that compared to the same period of 2019, atmospheric NO₂, SO₂, PM_2.5, and CO levels decreased by an average of 24.16%, 19.51%, 20.25%, and 6.88%, respectively during the lockdown, while O₃ increased by a maximum of 4.52%. Among the 19 studied cities, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Jakarta, and Hanoi experienced the highest reduction of NO₂ (40%-47%) during the lockdown period compared to the corresponding period of 2019. The methodological framework applied in this study can be used and extended to future research in the similar domain such as understanding long-term effects of COVID-19 mitigation measures on the atmospheric pollution at continental-scale or assessing the effects of the domestic emissions during the stay-at-home; a standard and effective COVID-19 lockdown measure applied in most of the countries.

SUBMITTER: Roy S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7833964 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Geospatial analysis of COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality in the South and Southeast Asian region.

Roy Sanjoy S Roy Sanjoy S Saha Monojit M Dhar Bandhan B Pandit Santa S Nasrin Rubaiya R

The Science of the total environment 20201121

The COVID-19 pandemic, induced by the novel Coronavirus worldwide outbreak, is causing countries to introduce different types of lockdown measures to curb the contagion. The implementation of strict lockdown policies has had unprecedented impacts on air quality globally. This study is an attempt to assess the effects of COVID-19 induced lockdown measures on air quality in both regional, country, and city scales in the South and Southeast Asian region using open-source satellite-based data and so ...[more]

PMID: 33250248

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Project description:Graphical abstract Highlights • Air quality of major cities of Kerala State (India) during the COVID-19 lockdown.• Substantial reduction of NO2 (-48 %) NOx (-53 % to -90 %) and CO (-24 % to -67 %).• Significant decrease in PM2.5 (-24 % to -47 %) and PM10 (-17 % to -20 %) levels.• Increase of O3 levels in Northern Kerala during lockdown period.• Indications of multiple sources (other than traffic and industry) of air pollution. This study assesses the effect of lockdown, due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, on the concentration of different air pollutants and overall air quality of a less industrialized region (Kerala) of India. We analysed data from four ambient air quality stations over three years (January to May, 2018–2020) with pairwise comparisons, trend analysis, etc. Results indicated unprecedented reduction in the concentration of the air pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, NO2 (-48 %), oxides of nitrogen, NOx (-53 % to -90 %), carbon monoxide, CO (-24 % to -67 %) and the particulate matter (-24 % to -47 % for particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 ?m, PM2.5; -17 % to -20 % for particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 ?m, PM10), as well as the reduction of the National Air Quality Index (NAQI). These reductions indicate an overall improvement of the ambient air quality due to restrictions on transportation, construction, and the industrial sectors during lockdown, even in an area considered less industrial. Despite the general decreasing trend of the concentration of various air pollutants from January to May, suggesting seasonal influences, the trend was intensified in the year 2020 due to the added effect of the lockdown measures. Comparison of the results with those from larger and more industrialized cities suggests that the effects of lockdown are more variable, and focused on the levels of gaseous pollutants. Findings from this study demonstrate the far-reaching effects and implications of the COVID-19 lockdown on ambient air quality, even on less industrialized and less urbanized regions.

Project description:The UK implemented a lockdown in Spring (2020) to curtail the person-to-person transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Measures restricted movements to one outing per day for exercise and shopping, otherwise most people were restricted to their dwelling except for key workers (e.g. medical, supermarkets, and transport). In this study, we quantified changes to air quality across the United Kingdom from 30/03/2020 to 03/05/2020 (weeks 14-18), the period of most stringent travel restrictions. Daily pollutant measurements of NO2, O3 and PM2.5 from the national network of monitoring sites during this period were compared with measurements over the same period during 2017-19. Comparisons were also made with predicted concentrations for the 2020 period from business-as-usual (BAU) modelling, where the contributions of normal anthropogenic activities were estimated under the observed meteorological conditions. During the lockdown study period there was a 69% reduction in traffic overall (74% reduction in light and 35% in heavy vehicles). Measurements from 129 monitoring stations, identified mean reductions in NO2 of 38.3% (-8.8 μg/m3) and PM2.5 of 16.5% (-2.2 μg/m3). Improvements in NO2 and PM2.5 were largest at urban traffic sites and more modest at background locations where a large proportion of the population live. In contrast, O3 concentrations on average increased by 7.6% (+4.8 μg/m3) with the largest increases at roadside sites due to reductions in local emissions of NO. A lack of VOC monitoring limited our capacity to interpret changes in O3 at urban background locations. BAU models predicted comparable NO2 reductions and O3 gains, although PM2.5 episodes would have been more prominent without lockdown. Results demonstrate the relatively modest contribution of traffic to air quality, suggesting that sustained improvements in air quality require actions across various sectors, including working with international and European initiatives on long-range transport air pollutants, especially PM2.5 and O3.

Dataset Information

Geospatial analysis of COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality in the South and Southeast Asian region.

Publications

Geospatial analysis of COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality in the South and Southeast Asian region.

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