Spread of COVID-19, Meteorological Conditions and Air Quality in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina: Two Facets Observed during Its Pandemic Lockdown

Bolaño-Ortiz, Tomás R.; Pascual-Flores, Romina M.; Puliafito, Salvador Enrique; Caicedo, Yiniva Camargo; Berná, Lucas; Ruggeri, María Florencia; López-Noreña, Ana I.; Tames, María Florencia; Cereceda-Balic, Francisco

doi:10.3390/atmos11101045

Cited by 33 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…For other pollutants, the lockdown period caused an increase in pollutant concentrations, which was the opposite trend than in many other places around the world. For example, in [52] it was indicated that in the City of Buenos Aires the decrease in PM 10 and NO 2 concentration was about 30% each, in [53] it was reported that PM 2.5 concentration in Athens decreased by almost 20%, according to [54] in A Coruña and Vigo the concentrations decreased from 25% to 49% for PM 10 and from 10% to 38% for PM 2.5 , and in North Italy comparing the periods February-May 2020 to February-May 2019 the reduction in case of NO 2 was over 30% [55].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution Observations in Selected Locations in Poland during the Lockdown Related to COVID-19

Rogulski

Badyda

2021

Atmosphere

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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused huge changes in people’s daily habits and had a significant impact on the economy. The lockdowns significantly reduced road traffic and meant that many people worked remotely. Therefore, the question arose as to how the reduced road traffic and stays of residents at home affected the degree of pollution and the structure of major air pollutants. To answer this question, the article presents an analysis of changes in typical air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2) in the five largest Polish cities and one of the voivodships. The data from the Polish State Environmental Monitoring were used for the analysis. The analysis showed that the period of the first lockdown in Poland (April 2020), despite the reduced road traffic, resulted in a significant increase in PM10 emissions (9–91% during working days and an average of 30% on Saturdays and Sundays), a slight increase in PM2.5 emissions (on average from 2% to 11% for all analyzed locations), and a reduction in NO2 emissions (on average from 6% to 11% for all analyzed locations) compared to the period before the lockdown. However, the changes were not homogeneous—in Łódź and Warsaw, in most cases, an increase in all analyzed pollutants was observed, and the greatest decrease in pollution took place in Małopolska voivodship (including Kraków). Comparing the data from April 2020 to the data from April 2019, the overall difference in the PMs concentrations was small, although there are places where there has been a significant decrease (Wrocław, Poznań), and there were also places where the concentration increased (Warsaw, Łódź, Małopolska). In the case of nitrogen dioxide, pollution concentration decreased in most locations. The only exception was the background stations in Warsaw, where the increase was 27%.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution Observations in Selected Locations in Poland during the Lockdown Related to COVID-19

Rogulski

Badyda

2021

Atmosphere

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“…Numerous studies around the world, as in China and East Asia [13][14][15], India [16][17][18], Southeast Asia [19,20], Europe [21][22][23][24][25][26], North America [27,28] and South America [29,30], have analyzed the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns in spring 2020 on concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and gaseous pollutants (NO x , CO, O 3 , SO 2 , NH 3 , etc.). All these studies agree on an unprecedented reduction of air pollution worldwide due to drastic limitations in traffic and industrial activity [31][32][33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the COVID-19 Lockdown Effects on Spectral Aerosol Scattering and Absorption Properties in Athens, Greece

et al. 2021

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COVID-19 is evolving into one of the worst pandemics in recent history, claiming a death toll of over 1.5 million as of December 2020. In an attempt to limit the expansion of the pandemic in its initial phase, nearly all countries imposed restriction measures, which resulted in an unprecedented reduction of air pollution. This study aims to assess the impact of the lockdown effects due to COVID-19 on in situ measured aerosol properties, namely spectral-scattering (bsca) and absorption (babs) coefficients, black carbon (BC) concentrations, single-scattering albedo (SSA), scattering and absorption Ångström exponents (SAE, AAE) in Athens, Greece. Moreover, a comparison is performed with the regional background site of Finokalia, Crete, for a better assessment of the urban impact on observed differences. The study examines pre-lockdown (1–22 March 2020), lockdown (23 March–3 May 2020) and post-lockdown (4–31 May 2020) periods, while the aerosol properties are also compared with a 3–4 year preceding period (2016/2017–2019). Comparison of meteorological parameters in Athens, between the lockdown period and respective days in previous years, showed only marginal variation, which is not deemed sufficient in order to justify the notable changes in aerosol concentrations and optical properties. The largest reduction during the lockdown period was observed for babs compared to the pre-lockdown (−39%) and to the same period in previous years (−36%). This was intensified during the morning traffic hours (−60%), reflecting the large decrease in vehicular emissions. Furthermore, AAE increased during the lockdown period due to reduced emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, while a smaller (−21%) decrease was observed for bsca along with slight increases (6%) in SAE and SSA values, indicating that scattering aerosol properties were less affected by the decrease in vehicular emissions, as they are more dependent on regional sources and atmospheric processing. Nighttime BC emissions related to residential wood-burning were slightly increased during the lockdown period, with respect to previous-year means. On the contrary, aerosol and pollution changes during the lockdown period at Finokalia were low and highly sensitive to natural sources and processes.

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“…Moreover, several studies have shown that poor air quality is related to increases in infections and mortality due to COVID-19 [77][78][79][80]. This would indicate that a reduction in emissions and improvements in air quality could also reduce the rate of infection and mortality due to COVID-19 [47,[81][82][83][84][85]. Thus, it would be expected that prevention measures (such as social distancing and lockdowns, among others) are actually more profitable than a cure [78,86,87].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions Reduction of Greenhouse Gases, Ozone Precursors, Aerosols and Acidifying Gases from Road Transportation during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Colombia

2021

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The aim of this work was to analyze the changes in the emissions from the transport sector during the COVID-19 lockdown in Colombia. We compared estimated emissions from road transportation of four groups of pollutants, namely, greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O), ozone precursor gases (CO, NMVOC, NOx), aerosols (BC, PM2.5, PM10), and acidifying gases (NH3, SO2), during the first half of 2020 with values obtained in the same period of 2018. The estimate of emissions from road transportation was determined using a standardized methodology consistent with the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and the European Environment Agency/European Monitoring and Evaluation Program. We found a substantial reduction in GHG emissions for CH4, N2O, and CO2 by 17%, 21%, and 28%, respectively. The ozone precursors CO and NMVOC presented a decrease of 21% and 22%, respectively, while NOx emissions were reduced up to 15% for the study period. In addition, BC decreased 15%, and there was a reduction of 17% for both PM10 and PM2.5 emissions. Finally, acidifying gases presented negative variations of 19% for SO2 and 23% for NH3 emissions. Furthermore, these results were consistent with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite observations and measurements at air quality stations. Our results suggest that the largest decreases were due to the reduction in the burning of gasoline and diesel oil from the transport sector during the COVID-19 lockdown. These results can serve decision makers in adopting strategies to improve air quality related to the analyzed sector.

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Spread of COVID-19, Meteorological Conditions and Air Quality in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina: Two Facets Observed during Its Pandemic Lockdown

Cited by 33 publications

References 54 publications

Air Pollution Observations in Selected Locations in Poland during the Lockdown Related to COVID-19

Air Pollution Observations in Selected Locations in Poland during the Lockdown Related to COVID-19

Assessment of the COVID-19 Lockdown Effects on Spectral Aerosol Scattering and Absorption Properties in Athens, Greece

Emissions Reduction of Greenhouse Gases, Ozone Precursors, Aerosols and Acidifying Gases from Road Transportation during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Colombia

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