Impact of city lockdown on the air quality of COVID-19-hit of Wuhan city

Lian, Xinbo; Huang, Jianping; Huang, Ru‐Jin; Liu, Chuwei; Wang, Lina; Zhang, Tinghan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140556

Cited by 285 publications

(255 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The large increase in O 3 concentration (47.0%) is also expected due to the less active O 3 titration by NO as well as seasonal effects with the days getting longer into spring. This was also observed in other cities that experienced reduced levels of human activity due to COVID-19 (e.g., Collivignarelli et al [ 16 ]; Kerimray et al [ 7 ]; Li et al [ 13 ]; Lian et al [ 4 ]; Sicard et al [ 18 ]).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 62%

“…By comparison, there have been reports of substantial decreases in PM 2.5 concentrations due to reduced human activity related to COVID-19 (e.g., Collivignarelli et al [ 16 ]; Kerimray et al [ 7 ]; Li et al [ 13 ]; Lian et al [ 4 ]; Sharma et al [ 15 ]; Zangari et al [ 19 ]). For example, Wuhan, which was subjected to a series of strict lockdown orders, saw a 36.9% decrease in PM 2.5 concentration [ 4 ]. Milan, another city hard-hit by COVID-19, experienced a decrease of 47.4% in PM 2.5 concentration during a lockdown [ 16 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is speculated that, unlike complete lockdowns, social distancing in Seoul mainly had effects on commuting and daytime social activities rather than industries, leading to a decreased level of traffic. Note that NO 2 and CO are known to have direct links to vehicle emissions, whereas SO 2 emission is largely associated with industrial activities [ 4 ]. According to the National Air Pollutants Emission Service of Korea [ 21 ], Seoul does not have a significant local source of SO 2 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Air Quality Change in Seoul, South Korea under COVID-19 Social Distancing: Focusing on PM2.5

Han

Park

Kwak

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Seoul, the most populous city in South Korea, has been practicing social distancing to slow down the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and other air pollutants measured in Seoul over the two 30 day periods before and after the start of social distancing are analyzed to assess the change in air quality during the period of social distancing. The 30 day mean PM2.5 concentration decreased by 10.4% in 2020, which is contrasted with an average increase of 23.7% over the corresponding periods in the previous 5 years. The PM2.5 concentration decrease was city-wide and more prominent during daytime than at nighttime. The concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) decreased by 16.9% and 16.4%, respectively. These results show that social distancing, a weaker forcing toward reduced human activity than a strict lockdown, can help lower pollutant emissions. At the same time, synoptic conditions and the decrease in aerosol optical depth over the regions to the west of Seoul support that the change in Seoul’s air quality during the COVID-19 social distancing can be interpreted as having been affected by reductions in the long-range transport of air pollutants as well as local emission reductions.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air Quality Change in Seoul, South Korea under COVID-19 Social Distancing: Focusing on PM2.5

Han

Park

Kwak

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…There is a lot of work on air quality during the COVID-19 lockdown period being reported from around the world (e.g., Chen et al, 2020 ; Mahato et al, 2020 ; Muhammad et al, 2020 ; Sharma et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). In Wuhan, there have been prior reports such as Lian et al (2020) . However, that study focused only on the pre-lockdown and during the lockdown periods and primarily on changes in the air quality index (AQI) rather than on the distributions of the various pollutants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan: Ambient air quality and the relationships between criteria air pollutants and meteorological variables before, during, and after lockdown

Sulaymon

Zhang

Hopke

et al. 2021

Atmospheric Research

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“…Despite the dramatic health and socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns, their environmental impact might be beneficial. Bans on mass gatherings, mandatory school closures, and home confinement (He et al, 2020; Le Quéré et al, 2020) during lockdowns have all resulted in lower traffic-related pollutant emissions and improved air quality in Asia, Europe and America (Adams, 2020;Bauwens et al, 2020;Berman and Ebisu, 2020;Conticini et al, 2020;Dantas et al, 2020;Dutheil et al, 2020;He et al, 2020;Kerimray et al, 2020;Lian et al, 2020;Otmani et al, 2020;Sicard et al, 2020;Zheng et al, 2020). The restrictions also present an opportunity to evaluate the cascading responses from the interaction of humans, ecosystems, and climate with the global economy (Diffenbaugh et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in black carbon emissions over Europe due to COVID-19 lockdowns

Evangeliou¹,

Platt²,

Eckhardt³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Following the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19 in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) and its spread to the rest of the world, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Without effective treatment in the initial pandemic phase, social distancing and mandatory quarantines were introduced as the only available preventative measure. Despite the socioeconomic impacts, air quality improved due to lower pollutant emissions. Here we investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on ambient black carbon (BC), which affects climate and damages health, using in-situ observations from 17 European stations in a Bayesian inversion framework. BC emissions declined by 11 % in Europe (20 % in Italy, 32 % in Germany, 20 % in Spain) during lockdown compared to the same period in the previous five years. BC temporal variation in the countries enduring the most drastic restrictions showed the most distinct lockdown impacts. Increased particle light absorption in at the beginning of the lockdown, confirmed by assimilated satellite and remote sensing data, suggests residential combustion was the dominant BC source. Accordingly, in Central and Eastern Europe, which experienced lower than average temperatures, BC was elevated compared to the previous five years. Except for the comparison of BC emissions in the lockdown with the previous five years, an immediate decrease was also seen, as compared with the period before the lockdown, which averaged about 10 % over Europe. Such a decrease was not seen in the previous years, which also confirms an impact on BC emissions from COVID-19.

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Impact of city lockdown on the air quality of COVID-19-hit of Wuhan city

Cited by 285 publications

References 38 publications

Air Quality Change in Seoul, South Korea under COVID-19 Social Distancing: Focusing on PM2.5

Air Quality Change in Seoul, South Korea under COVID-19 Social Distancing: Focusing on PM2.5

COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan: Ambient air quality and the relationships between criteria air pollutants and meteorological variables before, during, and after lockdown

Changes in black carbon emissions over Europe due to COVID-19 lockdowns

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