Air pollution impacts of COVID-19–related containment measures
Name
eabe1178.full.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.45 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6341bef154a23e8c0976935e35ed2aec
Author(s)
Chossière, Guillaume P. (Guillaume Pierre)
Xu, Haofeng
Dixit, Yash
Isaacs, Stewart
Eastham, Sebastian David
Allroggen, Florian
Speth, Raymond L
Barrett, Steven R. H.
Date Issued
May 2021
Journal
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
Chossière, Guillaume P. et al. "Air pollution impacts of COVID-19–related containment measures." Science Advances 7, 21 (May 2021): eabe1178 © 2021 The Authors
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Responses to the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in one of the largest short-term decreases in anthropogenic emissions in modern history. To date, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the impact of lockdowns on air quality and human health. Using global satellite observations and ground measurements from 36 countries in Europe, North America, and East Asia, we find that lockdowns led to reductions in NO₂ concentrations globally, resulting in ~32,000 avoided premature mortalities, including ~21,000 in China. However, we do not find corresponding reductions in PM[subscript 2.5] and ozone globally. Using satellite measurements, we show that the disconnect between NO₂ and ozone changes stems from local chemical regimes. The COVID-related lockdowns demonstrate the need for targeted air quality policies to reduce the global burden of air pollution, especially related to secondary pollutants.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global Change
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe1178
