Relations between Air Quality and Covid-19 Lockdown Measures in Valencia, Spain

Abstract

The set of measures to contain the diffusion of COVID-19 instituted by the European governments gave an unparalleled opportunity to improve our understanding of the transport and industrial sectors’ contribution to urban air pollution. The purpose of this study was to assess the impacts of the lockdown measures on air quality and pollutant emissions in Valencia, Spain. For this reason, we determined if there was a significant difference in the concentration levels of different particulate matter (PM) sizes, PM10, PM2.5, and NOx, NO2, NO, and O3, between the period of restrictions in 2020 and the same period in 2019. Our findings indicated that PM pollutant levels during the lockdown period were significantly different from the same period of the previous year, even if there is variability in the different local areas. The highest variations reduction in the PM10 and PM2.5 levels were observed for the València Centre, València Avd Francia, and València Pista de Silla (all of the urban traffic type) in which there was a reduction of 58%–42%, 56%–53%, and 60%–41% respectively. Moreover, consistent with recent studies, we observed a significant reduction in nitric oxide levels in all the air monitoring stations. In all seven monitoring stations, it was observed, in 2020, NOx, NO2, and NO concentrations decreased by 48.5%–49.8%–46.2%, 62.1%–67.4%–45.7%, 37.4%–35.7%–35.3%, 60.7%–67.7%–47.1%, 65.5%–65.8%–63.5%, 60.0%–64.5%–41.3%, and 60.4%–61.6%–52.5%, respectively. Lastly, overall O3 levels decreased during the lockdown period, although this phenomenon was more closely related to weather conditions. Overall, no significant differences were observed between the meteorological conditions in 2019 and 2020. Our findings suggest that further studies on the effect of human activities on air quality are needed and encourage the adoption of a holistic approach to improve urban air quality.

The Dynamic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality: The Beijing Lessons

“…The COVID-19 pandemic led to an improvement in air quality and therefore benefited people’s health, consistent with the conclusions of Berman and Ebisu [ 42 ], Singh and Chauhan [ 43 ], Stratoulias and Nuthammachot [ 44 ], Nadzir et al [ 45 ], Nakada and Urban [ 46 ], Ma and Kang [ 47 ], and Donzelli et al [ 48 ]. They all presented evidence of the bettering of the air quality over large metropolitan areas during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown Measures on the 2020 Columnar and Surface Air Pollution Parameters over South-Eastern Italy

“…The LD measure effects on the PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were highly site-dependent, according to previous studies, either because each site has its own specific characteristics (e.g., type, meteorology, anthropogenic activities) or because of the different LD measures adopted by the different countries. Monitoring stations in urban sites such as Milan [54], Florence [13], Athens [55], Barcelona [56], and Baghdad [57] experienced a significant PM decrease due to the LD measures, since the PM pollution was strictly related to the anthropogenic activities at these sites, as we found at Sites 4 and 7. Conversely, other studies reported PM concentration increases during the LD periods, as summarized by [58].…”

Air Quality during Covid-19 Lockdown

“…The authors have observed reductions of 50%, 34%, and 20% at urban traffic, urban background, and rural background stations, respectively. Similarly, Donzelli et al (2021) [23], nitric oxide levels were significantly reduced in seven air monitoring stations placed in the city of Valencia, Spain. Considerable NO 2 concentration variations between before and during the lockdown have been shown by several studies, like Mahato et al (2020) [24], in which a reduction of 52.68% is documented.…”