More Significant Impacts From New Particle Formation on Haze Formation During COVID-19 Lockdown.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tang L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8206662 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The worldwide restrictions of social contacts that were implemented in spring 2020 to slow down infection rates of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted in significant modifications in mobility behaviour of urban residents. We used three-year eddy covariance measurements of size-resolved particle number fluxes from an urban site in Berlin to estimate the effects of reduced traffic intensity on particle fluxes. Similar observations of urban surface-atmosphere exchange of size-resolved particles that focus on COVID-19 lockdown-related effects are not available, yet. Although the site remained a net emission source for ultrafine particles (UFP, Dp < 100 nm), the median upward flux of ultrafine particles (FUFP) decreased from 8.78 × 107 m-2 s-1 in the reference period to 5.44 × 107 m-2 s-1 during the lockdown. This was equivalent to a relative reduction of -38 % for median FUFP, which was similar to -35 % decrease of road traffic intensity in the flux source area during that period. The size-resolved analysis demonstrated that, on average, net deposition of UFP occurred only during night when particle emission source strength by traffic was at its minimum, whereas accumulation mode particles (100 nm < Dp < 200 nm) showed net deposition also during daytime. The results indicate the benefits of traffic reductions as a mitigation strategy to reduce UFP emissions to the urban atmosphere.
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Project description:IntroductionIn 2020, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been an unprecedented decrease in road traffic in almost all urbanized areas around the globe. This has undoubtedly affected the ambient air quality.MethodsIn this study mobile and fixed-site measurements of aerosol particle concentrations in the ambient air in one of the busiest streets in Lublin, a mid-sized city in Central Europe (Poland) during the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020 were performed. Based on the measurements particle doses received by road users during different times of the day were assessed. The obtained results were compared with corresponding pre-COVID-19 measurements also performed in the spring which were available only from 2017.ResultsDuring lockdown the mass concentration of traffic-related submicrometer PM1 particles and number concentration of ultrafine PN0.1 particles was significantly reduced. This resulted in a decrease of doses inhaled by road users as well as of particle doses deposited in their respiratory tracks. The greatest reductions of respectively over 2 times and over 5 times were observed during the day for total particles and traffic-related particles. Smaller reductions indicating the existence of relatively intensive non-traffic emissions were reported at night.ConclusionsSubstantial decrease in traffic intensity in the city caused by lockdown restrictions resulted in a significant reduction in the concentration of vehicle-generated particles in the ambient air. This in turn could have resulted in smaller doses inhaled by the inhabitants, specifically road users, which should have a positive impact on their health.
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Project description:The fatal novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disease smashes the normal tempo of global socio-economic and cultural livelihood. Most of the countries impose a lockdown system with social distancing measures to arrest the rapid transmission of this virus into the human body. The objective of this study is to examine the status of air quality during and pre-COVID-19 lockdown and to recommend some long-term sustainable environmental management plan. The pollution data like PM10, PM2.5, O3, SO2, NO2 and CO have been obtained from State Pollution Control Board under Govt. of West Bengal. Similarly, various land surface temperature (LST) maps have been prepared using LANDSAT-8 OLI and LANDSAT-7 ETM?+?images of USGS. The maps of NO2 and aerosol concentration over Indian subcontinent have been taken from ESA and NASA. The digital thematic maps and diagrams have been depicted by Grapher 13 and Arc GIS 10.3 platforms. The result shows that the pollutants like CO, NO2 and SO2 are significantly decreased, while the average level of O3 has been slightly increased in 2020 during the lockdown due to close-down of all industrial and transport activities. Meanwhile, around 17.5% was the mean reduction of PM10 and PM2.5 during lockdown compared with previous years owing to complete stop of vehicles movement, burning of biomass and dust particles from the construction works. This study recommends some air pollution-tolerant plant species (in urban vacant spaces and roof tops) for long-term cohabitation among environment, society and development.
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Project description:To investigate the characteristics of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and its chemical compositions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region of China during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, the ground-based data of PM2.5, trace gases, water-soluble inorganic ions, and organic and elemental carbon were analyzed in three typical cities (Beijing, Tianjin, and Baoding) in the BTH region of China from 5-15 February 2020. The PM2.5 source apportionment was established by combining the weather research and forecasting model and comprehensive air quality model with extensions (WRF-CAMx). The results showed that the maximum daily PM2.5 concentration reached the heavy pollution level (>150 μg/m3) in the above three cities. The sum concentration of SO42−, NO3− and NH4+ played a dominant position in PM2.5 chemical compositions of Beijing, Tianjin, and Baoding; secondary transformation of gaseous pollutants contributed significantly to PM2.5 generation, and the secondary transformation was enhanced as the increased PM2.5 concentrations. The results of WRF-CAMx showed obviously inter-transport of PM2.5 in the BTH region; the contribution of transportation source decreased significantly than previous reports in Beijing, Tianjin, and Baoding during the COVID-19 lockdown; but the contribution of industrial and residential emission sources increased significantly with the increase of PM2.5 concentration, and industry emission sources contributed the most to PM2.5 concentrations. Therefore, control policies should be devoted to reducing industrial emissions and regional joint control strategies to mitigate haze pollution. Graphical abstract Image, graphical abstract
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Project description:The 2019-2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a public health issue. Lockdown is among options suggested to reduce spread of the virus. This study aimed to determining the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on Tunisian consumer awareness, attitudes and behaviors related to food wastage. An online survey was conducted during the first 2 weeks of COVID-19 lockdown. The survey collected information on demographic data, awareness and attitudes toward food waste, food purchase behavior and household food expenditure estimation; extent of household food waste; willingness and information needs to reduce food waste. This study included 284 respondents. About 89% of respondents claimed to be aware of food waste, and the COVID-19 lockdown would impact for 93% of respondents, their waste levels, and for 80%, their grocery shopping habits. Interestingly, the COVID-19 lockdown improved food shopping performances and pushed toward a positive behavioral change regarding food wastage: 85% respondents declared nothing of what they bought would be discarded, and most of the respondents have set up a strategy of saving, storing and eating leftovers. The most cited reasons given for discarding food were overcooking, inappropriate storage and overbuying. Consumers' changes in food waste prevention might be probably driven more by the socioeconomical context of the COVID-19 lockdown (i.e. food availability, restricted movements, loss of income), than by a pro-environmental concern. Finally, our study pointed out the consumers' needs of information for taking further action. In conclusion, our study can constitute a basis to further promote household food waste prevention behavior, outlasting the COVID-19 crisis.
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Project description:The COVID-19 outbreak greatly limited human activities and reduced primary emissions particularly from urban on-road vehicles but coincided with Beijing experiencing "pandemic haze," raising the public concerns about the effectiveness of imposed traffic policies to improve the air quality. This paper explores the relationship between local vehicle emissions and the winter haze in Beijing before and during the COVID-19 lockdown based on an integrated analysis framework, which combines a real-time on-road emission inventory, in situ air quality observations, and a localized numerical modeling system. We found that traffic emissions decreased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but its imbalanced emission abatement of NOx (76%, 125.3 Mg/day) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs, 53%, 52.9 Mg/day) led to a significant rise of atmospheric oxidants in urban areas, resulting in a modest increase in secondary aerosols due to inadequate precursors, which still offset reduced primary emissions. Moreover, the enhanced oxidizing capacity in the surrounding regions greatly increased the secondary particles with relatively abundant precursors, which was transported into Beijing and mainly responsible for the aggravated haze pollution. We recommend that mitigation policies should focus on accelerating VOC emission reduction and synchronously controlling regional sources to release the benefits of local traffic emission control.
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Project description:The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its threat to health systems worldwide have led governments to take acute actions to enforce social distancing. Previous studies used complex epidemiological models to quantify the effect of lockdown policies on infection rates. However, these rely on prior assumptions or on official regulations. Here, we use country-specific reports of daily mobility from people cellular usage to model social distancing. Our data-driven model enabled the extraction of lockdown characteristics which were crossed with observed mortality rates to show that: (i) the time at which social distancing was initiated is highly correlated with the number of deaths, r2 = 0.64, while the lockdown strictness or its duration is not as informative; (ii) a delay of 7.49 days in initiating social distancing would double the number of deaths; and (iii) the immediate response has a prolonged effect on COVID-19 death toll.
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