The lock-down effects of COVID-19 on the air pollution indices in Iran and its neighbors

Abstract

Introduction The COVID-19 restrictions have a lot of various peripheral negative and positive effects, like economic shocks and decreasing air pollution, respectively. Many studies showed NO2 reduction in most parts of the world. Methods Iran and its land and maritime neighbors have about 7.4% of the world population and 6.3% and 5.8% of World COVID-19 cases and deaths, respectively. The air pollution indices of them such as CH 4 (Methane), CO_1 (CO), H 2 O (Water), HCHO (Tropospheric Atmospheric Formaldehyde), NO 2 (Nitrogen oxides), O 3 (ozone), SO 2 (Sulfur Dioxide), UVAI_AAI [UV Aerosol Index (UVAI)/Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI)] are studied from the First quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2021 with Copernicus Sentinel 5 Precursor (S5P) satellite data set from Google Earth Engine. The outliers are detected based on the depth functions. We use a two-sample t test, Wilcoxon test, and interval-wise testing for functional data to control the familywise error rate. Result The adjusted p value comparison between Q2 of 2019 and Q2 of 2020 in NO 2 for almost all countries is statistically significant except Iraq, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait. But, the CO and HCHO are not statistically significant in any country. Although CH 4 , O 3 , and UVAI_AAI are statistically significant for some countries. In the Q2 comparison for NO 2 between 2020 and 2021, only Iran, Armenia, Turkey, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are statistically significant. However, Ch 4 is statistically significant for all countries except Azerbaijan. Conclusions The comparison with and without adjusted p values declares the decreases in some air pollution in these countries. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40808-022-01528-x.

Estimating the Effects of Lock-Down for the First and Second Waves of COVID-19 on Air Pollution indices in the Iranian Provinces with Google Earth Engine Technology

“…Recent studies about climatic indices in Iran with Fuzzy clustering (Aghelpour, Singh et al 2021) don't use any FC methods and from this point of view using and an extension of FC methods is one of the new future directions of this research. Another recent study (Fayaz 2022) and this study are among the rst researches that use GEE dataset with FDA methods and it counts as another future direction of this study. Finally, the main limitation of this research is not using the datasets of the air quality monitoring sites from Department of Environment, Iran (www.doe.ir), it accurate the estimates.…”

“…It is statistically signi cant in different air pollution indices in Iran and its neighboring countries. (Fayaz 2022).…”

The Nexus Between COVID-19 Factors and Air Pollution

“…Fayaz 21 has investigated the lock-down COVID-19 effects on the air pollution indices in Iran and its neighbors. In India’s megacity Delhi, Mahato and Pal, 23 revisiting air quality during lockdown and influenced by the second surge of COVID-19, discover that both the nationwide lockdown and the city-scale restriction are responsible for improving the city’s air quality, though the rate of improvement was higher (39%) during the first cycle of lockdown (nationwide) than during the second cycle of lockdown (city-scale).…”

“…Because of COVID-19's role as a catalyst for lower air pollution emissions in industrial economies and the consequent decline in carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide airborne transmissions, the quality of the air has significantly improved. 21 Transportation, businesses, and industrial closures have consequently contributed to a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions, resulting in a 50% reduction in air pollution in New York compared to 2019 and a 40% reduction in coal use in China, as well as a 25% drop in GHG emissions overall. 22 Fayaz 21 has investigated the lock-down COVID-19 effects on the air pollution indices in Iran and its neighbors.…”

“…21 Transportation, businesses, and industrial closures have consequently contributed to a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions, resulting in a 50% reduction in air pollution in New York compared to 2019 and a 40% reduction in coal use in China, as well as a 25% drop in GHG emissions overall. 22 Fayaz 21 has investigated the lock-down COVID-19 effects on the air pollution indices in Iran and its neighbors. In India's megacity Delhi, Mahato and Pal, 23 revisiting air quality during lockdown and influenced by the second surge of COVID-19, discover that both the nationwide lockdown and the city-scale restriction are responsible for improving the city's air quality, though the rate of improvement was higher (39%) during the first cycle of lockdown (nationwide) than during the second cycle of lockdown (city-scale).…”