A132-01
Abrupt decline in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide after the outbreak of COVID-19

Friday, 11 December 2020: 16:00
Virtual
Fei Liu1,2, Aaron Page3, Sarah A Strode1,2, Yasuko Yoshida2,4, Sungyeon Choi2,4, Steven Smith5, K. Emma Knowland1,6, Bo Zheng7, Lok N Lamsal1,2, Can Li2,8, Nickolay Anatoly Krotkov2, Henk Eskes9, Joris P Veefkind9,10, Ronald van der A11, Pieternel Levelt10,11, Oliver P Hauser12 and Joanna Joiner2, (1)Universities Space Research Association Greenbelt, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)University of Exeter, Department of Management, Exeter, United Kingdom, (4)SSAI, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (5)Joint Global Change Research Institute, College Park, MD, United States, (6)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (7)Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Paris, France, (8)Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, College PARK, MD, United States, (9)Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, 3730, Netherlands, (10)Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, (11)Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands, (12)University of Exeter, Department of Economics, Exeter, United Kingdom
Abstract:
To combat the spread of COVID-19, governments limited activities in cities reporting large numbers of infected people, starting January 23, 2020 in Wuhan, China; this included halting public transportation and closing local businesses. Policy interventions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have environmental and economic impacts. Tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution indicates economic activities, as nitrogen dioxide is primarily emitted from fossil fuel consumption. Satellite measurements show dramatic drop in tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities after the outbreak of COVID-19 at different times in different countries. We estimate the impact of COVID-19 control measures on global anthropogenic emissions by taking advantages of the changes of observed NO2 from space. We also relate toNO2 reduction to government’s actions, including the announcement of the first report and the date of lockdown. Our analysis offers insights into the unintended environmental consequences of reduced economic activities.
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