Air pollution and COVID-19 lockdown in a large South American city: Santiago Metropolitan Area, Chile

Toro, A Richard; Catalán, Francisco; Urdanivia, Francesco R.; Rojas, Jhojan P.; Manzano, Carlos; Seguel, Rodrigo; Gallardo, Laura; Osses, Mauricio; Pantoja, Nicolás; Leiva-Guzmán, Manuel A.

doi:10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100803

Cited by 50 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Studies based in South American cities are also consistent with studies around the world, showing reductions in all the analyzed pollutants and only increases in ozone [15][16][17][18][19]. For example, nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) concentrations decreased by 68% in Quito, Ecuador [17], 54% in Sao Paulo, Brazil [19], 48% in Lima, Peru [16], and 42% in Santiago, Chile [15]. Similarly, in these cities, PM 2.5 decreased by between 11% and 29%, and O 3 increased by between 30% and 63% [15][16][17]19].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…However, increases in ozone levels have been observed in many regions [11,12], highlighting potential trade-offs and the nonlinear links between emissions and atmospheric composition [14]. Studies based in South American cities are also consistent with studies around the world, showing reductions in all the analyzed pollutants and only increases in ozone [15][16][17][18][19]. For example, nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) concentrations decreased by 68% in Quito, Ecuador [17], 54% in Sao Paulo, Brazil [19], 48% in Lima, Peru [16], and 42% in Santiago, Chile [15].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

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Differential Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Regional Fire on the Air Quality of Medellín, Colombia

et al. 2021

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Governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic provide a unique opportunity to study the effects of restricted socioeconomic activity on air quality. Here, we study the changes in air pollution levels during the lockdown in Medellín and its metropolitan area, Colombia, for periods with and without enhanced regional fire activity, considering the effects of meteorology using random forest and multiple linear regression methods. The lockdown measures, which reduced mean traffic volume by 70% compared to 2016–2019, resulted in reductions for PM2.5 (50–63%), PM10 (59–64%), NO (75–76%), NO2 (43–47%), and CO (40–47%), while O3 concentration increased by 19–22%. In contrast, when fire activity was high, the effects of the lockdown on air quality were shadowed by the long-range transport of biomass burning emissions, increasing fine particulate matter and ozone. This study shows that healthier levels are achievable through significant efforts from decision-makers and society. The results highlight the need to develop integral measures that do not only consider reductions in the local emissions from transportation and industry, but also the role of fire activity in the region, as well as the difficulties of achieving reductions in ozone from measures that are effective at reducing primary pollutants.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Differential Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Regional Fire on the Air Quality of Medellín, Colombia

et al. 2021

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“…Under a global perspective, an increase in O3 concentrations has been observed in the cities of Rome, Italy (14%) (Sicard et al, 2020), Sao Paulo (30%) (Nakada and Urban, 2020), Barcelona, Spain (43%) (Tobías et al, 2020), Santiago, Chile (63%) (Toro et al, 2021) and Lima, Peru (80%) (Rojas et al, 2021). The production of O3 depends on a complex and nonlinear tropospheric chemistry between its precursors (VOCs and NOx) (Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts, 2000).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on the Air Pollution of Urban Areas of Central and Southern Chile

Morales-Solís

Ahumada

Rojas

et al. 2021

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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We present the effects of the confinement and physical distancing policies applied during the COVID-19 pandemic on the concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, NO, NO2 and O3 in 16 cities in central and southern Chile. The period between March and May in 2020 was compared with the corresponding months during 2017-2019, using surface data and satellite information. The relative percent changes in the concentration of atmospheric pollutants, and the meteorological variables observed between these two periods were used to quantify the effects of the lockdowns on the local air quality of the urban areas studied. The results showed statistically significant changes in 11 of the 16 cities. Significant relative changes between +14% and -33% were observed for PM10 in 9 cities; while statistically significant changes between -6% and -48% were evident for PM2.5 in 10 cities. Significant decreases between -27% and -55%, were observed in 4 cities in which NO2 data were available; while significant increases in O3, between 18% and 43%, were found in 4 of the 5 cities with available data. The local meteorological variables did not show significant changes between both periods. In all the cities studied, one of the main PM sources is wood burning for residential heating. Although the quarantine imposed during the health emergency could have induced an increase in residential emissions, these were compensated with the reductions in vehicular and/or industrial emissions. Therefore, these results should be carefully interpreted and should inspire new research considering the social, cultural, and economic factors that could alter the common emission patterns and air quality of urban centers.

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“…Reduction of traffic volume during the pandemic was effective in improving air quality in these areas. Except for vehicular emissions, the change in air pollution can still be attributed to the role of other sources such as residential emissions, power generation, or secondary PM [ 13 , 15 ]. A sharp decrease in the concentration of CO, SO 2 , PM 2.5 , and an increase of O 3 has been observed in most US monitoring stations as well [ [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the interruption-recovery patterns of urban air pollution under the COVID-19 lockdown in China

Cai

Wang

et al. 2021

Building and Environment

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The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to study the effects of urban lockdown policies on the variation in pollutant concentrations and to characterize the recovery patterns of urban air pollution under the interruption of COVID-19 lockdown policies. In this paper, interruption-recovery models and regression discontinuity design were developed to characterize air pollution interruption-recovery patterns and analyze environmental impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown, using air pollution data from four Chinese metropolises (i.e., Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin, and Guangzhou). The results revealed the air pollutant interruption-recovery curve represented by the three lockdown response periods (Level I, Level II and Level III) during COVID-19. The curve decreased during Level I (A 25.3%–48.8% drop in the concentration of NO 2 has been observed in the four metropolises compared with the same period in 2018–2019.), then recovered around reopening, but decreased again during Level III. Moreover, the interruption-recovery curve of the year-on-year air pollution difference suggests a process of first decreasing during Level I and gradually recovering to a new equilibrium during Level III (e.g., the unit cumulative difference of NO 2 mass concentrations in Shanghai was 21.7, 22.5, 11.3 (μg/m 3 ) during Level I, II, and III and other metropolises shared similar results). Our findings reveal general trends in the air quality externality of different lockdown policies, hence could provide valuable insights into air pollutant interruption-recovery patterns and clear scientific guides for policymakers to estimate the effect of different lockdown policies on urban air quality.

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Air pollution and COVID-19 lockdown in a large South American city: Santiago Metropolitan Area, Chile

Cited by 50 publications

References 40 publications

Differential Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Regional Fire on the Air Quality of Medellín, Colombia

Differential Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Regional Fire on the Air Quality of Medellín, Colombia

The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on the Air Pollution of Urban Areas of Central and Southern Chile

Characterizing the interruption-recovery patterns of urban air pollution under the COVID-19 lockdown in China

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