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Characteristics of air quality in different climatic zones of China during the COVID-19 lockdown.

ABSTRACT: The diverse climate types and the complex anthropogenic source emissions in China lead to the great regional differences of air pollution mechanisms. The COVID-19 lockdown has given us a precious opportunity to understand the effect of weather conditions and anthropogenic sources on the distribution of air pollutants in different climate zones. In this study, to understand the impact of meteorological and socio-economic factors on air pollution during COVID-19 lockdown, we divided 358 Chinese cities into eight climate regions. Temporal, spatial and diurnal variations of six major air pollutants from January 1 to April 18, 2020 were analyzed. The differences in the characteristics of air pollutants in different climate zones were obvious. PM_2.5 reduced by 59.0%-64.2% in cold regions (North-East China (NEC) and North-Western (NW)), while O₃ surged by 99.0%-99.9% in warm regions (Central South (CS) and Southern Coast (SC)). Diurnal variations of atmospheric pollutants were also more prominent in cold regions. Moreover, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, CO and SO₂ showed more prominent reductions (20.5%-64.2%) in heating regions (NEC, NW, NCP and MG) than no-heating regions (0.8%-48%). Climate has less influence on NO_2, which dropped by 41.2%-57.1% countrywide during the lockdown. The influences of weather conditions on the atmospheric pollutants in different climate zones were different. The wind speed was not the primary reason for the differences in air pollutants in different climate zones. Temperature, precipitation, and air pollution emissions led to prominent regional differences in air pollutants throughout the eight climates. The effect of temperature on PM, SO₂, CO, and NO₂ varied obviously with the latitude, at which condition temperature was negatively correlated to PM, SO₂, CO, and NO₂ in the north but positively in the south. The temperature was positively correlated to ozone in different climate zones, and the correlation was the highest in NEC and the lowest in SC. The rainfall has a strong removal effect on atmospheric pollutants in the climate regions with more precipitation, but it increases the pollutant concentrations in the climate regions with less precipitation. In regions with more emission sources, air pollutants experienced more significant variations and returned to pre-lockdown levels earlier.

SUBMITTER: Wang H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8548732 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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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.

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Characteristics of air quality in different climatic zones of China during the COVID-19 lockdown.

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