Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on air quality: a study based on Air Quality Index

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected economic activities all around the world. Though it took a huge amount of human breathes as well as increases unemployment, it puts a positive impression on the environment. To stop the speedy extend of this disease, the maximum Government has imposed a strict lockdown on their citizens which creates a constructive impact on the atmosphere. Air pollutant concentration has been investigated in this study to analyze the impact of lockdown on the environment. Based on the air pollutant concentration, Air Quality Index (AQI) is deliberated. The Air Quality Index indicates the most and least polluted cities in the world. A higher value of AQI represents the higher polluted city and a lesser value of Air Quality Index represents a less polluted city. The impact of lockdown on air quality has been studied in this work and it is observed that the air pollutant concentration has reduced in every city of the world during the lockdown period. It has been also detected that the PM 2.5 and PM 10 are the most affecting air concentrator which controls the air quality of all the selected places during and after lockdown.Keywords Air Quality Index (AQI) . Particle pollution . Ground-level ozone (O 3 ) . Carbon monoxide (CO) . Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) . Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) Highlights • COVID-19 is a pandemic declared by WHO.• The effect of human happenings due to COVID-19 in 10 most polluted cities in the world was estimated after lockdown.• Based on the air pollutant concentration, Air Quality Index (AQI) is calculated.• PM 2.5 is mostly responsible for major air pollution.• PM 10 , CO, SO 2 , O 3 , and NO 2 are other major air pollutants.

The effects of short-term and long-term air pollution exposure on meibomian gland dysfunction

“…Since the air pollutants exposure are constant, the 24-h average concentrations of PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 , and SO 2 as well as the 8-h maximum value of O 3 were collected as daily exposures according to previous studies 18 – 21 . AQI is determined by monitoring the five major air pollutants, i.e., PM, O 3 , NO 2 , SO 2 and carbon monoxide (CO), and the maximum value among each of the pollutants is assigned as the date- and location-specific AQI value 20 , 21 . As Gope et al 20 and Mirabelli et al 21 reports, we recorded 24-h average AQI as daily AQI.…”

Source Apportionment of Atmospheric Deposition Species in an Agricultural Brazilian Region Using Positive Matrix Factorization

“…In central China, NO 2 emissions were reduced by almost 25% [5]. SO 2 emissions, another common marker of air pollution, fell by over 60% in northern Tunisia [6], in Mumbai, New York and Los Angeles by nearly 33%, in Madrid by 50%, in Seoul by 50%, and in Wuhan by 42% [11]. Air pollution is responsible for many deaths and an increased incidence of respiratory illnesses [12].…”

Screening Approach for Short-Term PM2.5 Health Co-Benefits: A Case Study from 15 Metropolitan Cities around the World during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Overall, reductions in global air pollution (excluding O 3 ) and values of the air quality index (AQI) were reported, ranging from −15 to −60% and −15.2 to −47%, respectively, with strong spatial heterogeneity [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Large pollution reductions (i.e., AQI from "Unhealthy" to "Moderate") were observed in East and South Asia, while mild pollution reductions (i.e., AQI from "Moderate" to "Good") were reported for Europe and North America [11,12,18]. A distinct pattern of global pollution reduction has emerged from the effect of NPIs.…”