Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and control measures on air quality and aerosol light absorption in Southwestern China

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved..

China has been performing nationwide social lockdown by releasing the Level 1 response to major public health emergencies (RMPHE) to struggle against the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak since late January 2020. During the Level 1 RMPHE, social production and public transport were maintained at minimal levels, and residents stayed in and worked from home. The universal impact of anthropogenic activities on air pollution can be evaluated by comparing it with air quality under such extreme conditions. We investigated the concentration of both gaseous and particulate pollutants and aerosol light absorption at different levels of (RMPHE) in an urban area of southwestern China. During the lockdown, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx, and BC decreased by 30-50%, compared to the pre-Level 1 RMPHE period. Meanwhile, the decrease of NOx caused the rise of O3 by up to 2.3 times due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) limitation. The aerosol light absorption coefficient at multiple wavelengths decreased by 50%, and AAE decreased by 20% during the Level 1 RMPHE. BrC played essential roles in light absorption after the RMPHE was announced, accounting for 54.0% of the aerosol absorption coefficient at 370 nm. Moreover, the lockdown down-weighted the fraction of fossil fuel in BC concentrations to 0.43 (minima). This study characterizes air pollution at the most basic level and can provide policymakers with references for the "baseline.".

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:749

Enthalten in:

The Science of the total environment - 749(2020) vom: 20. Dez., Seite 141419

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Chen, Yang [VerfasserIn]
Zhang, Shumin [VerfasserIn]
Peng, Chao [VerfasserIn]
Shi, Guangming [VerfasserIn]
Tian, Mi [VerfasserIn]
Huang, Ru-Jin [VerfasserIn]
Guo, Dongmei [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Huanbo [VerfasserIn]
Yao, Xiaojiang [VerfasserIn]
Yang, Fumo [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Aerosols
Air Pollutants
Air quality
Black carbon
COVID-19
Journal Article
Lockdown
Particulate Matter
Southern China

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 23.12.2020

Date Revised 30.03.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141419

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM313966346