scholarly journals UK COVID-19 lockdown: 100 days of air pollution reduction?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.E. Higham ◽  
C. Acosta Ramírez ◽  
M.A. Green ◽  
A. P. Morse
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Short Communication ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Multiple Pollutants ◽  
Air Chemistry ◽  
Low Humidity ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ozone Levels

Abstract On the 23 March 2020, a country-wide COVID-19 lockdown was imposed on the UK. The following 100 days saw anthropogenic movements quickly halt, before slowly easing back to a “new” normality. In this short communication, we use data from official UK air-quality sensors (DEFRA AURN) and the UK Met Office stations to show how lockdown measures affected air quality in the UK. We compare the 100 days post-lockdown (23 March to 30 June 2020) with the same period from the previous 7 years. We find, as shown in numerous studies of other countries, the nitrogen oxides levels across the country dropped substantially (∼ 50%). However, we also find the ozone levels increased (∼ 10%), and the levels of sulphur dioxide more than doubled across the country. These changes, driven by a complex balance in the air chemistry near the surface, may reflect the influence of low humidity as suggested by Met Office data, and potentially, the reduction of nitrogen oxides and their interactions with multiple pollutants.

scholarly journals COVID-19 national lockdown in Morocco: impacts on air quality and public health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenza Khomsi ◽  
Houda Najmi ◽  
Hassan Amghar ◽  
Youssef Chelhaoui ◽  
Zineb Souhaili
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Ambient Air Pollution ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Industrial Activities ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Quality Status

AbstractOn the 20th April 2020, the end date of the first strict lockdown period in Morocco, 2 403 410 cases of the corona Virus were confirmed globally. The number of Morocco confirmed cases attended 2990, while 12 746 were suspected and 143 deaths were recorded. Due to the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 worldwide and in Morocco, almost all avoidable activities in the country were prohibited since the kingdom announced activities reduction on March 16, 2020 and then general lockdown with reduced industrial activities on March 20, 2020.This study aims at comparing the air quality status in Casablanca and Marrakech, two large cities from Morocco, before the pandemic and during the lockdown situation to show whether COVID-19 compelled-anthropogenic activities lockdown may have saved lives by restraining ambient air pollution than by preventing infection.We found that, during the quarantine, NO2 dropped by -12 μg/m3 in Casablanca and -7 μg/m3 in Marrakech. PM2·5 dropped by -18 μg/m3 in Casablanca and -14 μg/m3 in Marrakech. CO dropped by -0.04 mg/m3 in Casablanca and -0.12 mg/m3 in Marrakech. This air pollution reduction had created human health benefits and had reduced mortality and saved lives mainly from cardiovascular diseases.

17. Air Quality Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 561-598
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Fisher ◽  
Bettina Lange ◽  
Eloise Scotford
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Public Interest Litigation ◽  
Coordination Problems ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Local Levels

This chapter examines legal regimes relating to air quality, considering developments at the international, EU, UK and local levels. International and EU law is particularly important in this regulatory sphere since air pollution is a transboundary issue. There is also increasing public concern about air quality, which is reflected in high profile public interest litigation being brought against the UK government to ensure lawful levels of air quality are being met, or at least properly planned for. There are also implementation and coordination problems that make compliance with air quality law a considerable challenge. Regulating air quality ultimately requires coordinating the actions and efforts of actors in many industries, sectors, and geographical areas. At present, not all of those actors are within the scope of UK air quality law.

scholarly journals China’s air pollution reduction efforts may result in an increase in surface ozone levels in highly polluted areas

AMBIO ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annela Anger ◽  
Olivier Dessens ◽  
Fengming Xi ◽  
Terry Barker ◽  
Rui Wu
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Ozone Levels

scholarly journals The efficiency of the fare-free public transport for the air pollution reduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (8) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Mikulski Maciej
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxide ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Heating Season ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The City

The article presents the problem of air pollution in polish cities on the example of Cracow. The focus was on one of the corrective actions taken by the city – free-fare public transport during high air pollution. Changes in the city's approach to this service since 2015 and consequences for the city budget were presented. Then, the efficiency of free-fare public transport in attracting new passengers was considered. The example of the Nysa town was cited, which introduced such permission for car drivers, but withdrew it three years later. In the next step, the concentration of air pollution before and after the activation of free-fare public transport in the heating season 2018/2019 was analyzed. Particulate matter PM10, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide were taken into account. There was no constant relationship between the changes in the level of these pollutants in the air and the full-paid (or fare-free) public transport. There is also no reason for the need to change parameters based on witch the fare-free public transport is activated. Finally, the necessity of further efforts of central and local authorities to improve air quality as well as further research on sources of air pollution and efficiency of undertaken actions was emphasized. Keywords: fare-free public transport, air pollution, environmental protection

scholarly journals Air Pollution Reduction and Mortality Benefit during the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Chen ◽  
Meng Wang ◽  
Conghong Huang ◽  
Patrick L. Kinney ◽  
Paul T. Anastas
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Mortality Benefit ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

To control the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China undertook stringent traffic restrictions and self-quarantine measures. We herein examine the change in air pollution levels and the potentially avoided cause-specific mortality during this massive population quarantine episode. We found that, due to the quarantine, NO2 dropped by 22.8 µg/m3 and 12.9 µg/m3 in Wuhan and China, respectively. PM2.5 dropped by 1.4 µg/m3 in Wuhan but decreased by 18.9 µg/m3 across 367 cities. Our findings show that interventions to contain the COVID-19 outbreak led to air quality improvements that brought health benefits which outnumbered the confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 in China

A space-based perspective of trends in air quality in major cities in the UK and India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karn Vohra ◽  
Eloise Marais ◽  
Louisa Kramer ◽  
William Bloss ◽  
Peter Porter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Routine Monitoring ◽  
Modis Aod ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
The Uk

<p>Air pollution is one of the leading global causes of premature mortality, necessitating routine monitoring of air quality in cities where most (55%) people now reside. Surface monitors are sparse and costly to operate, whereas satellites provide global coverage of a multitude of pollutants spanning more than 2 decades. Here we make use of the dynamic range of satellite products to understand long-term changes in air quality in target cities in the UK (London and Birmingham) and India (Kanpur and Delhi). These include nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>) from OMI for 2005-2018, formaldehyde (HCHO) from OMI for 2005-2016 to monitor non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) from IASI for 2008-2017 and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from MODIS for 2005-2018 to monitor PM<sub>2.5</sub>. Where surface observations are available (almost exclusively the UK), we first evaluate the ability of the satellite observations to reproduce variability in surface air pollution. We find temporal consistency for most pollutants (R >= 0.5), with the exception of MODIS AOD and surface PM<sub>2.5</sub> (R = 0.3), but the decline in AOD (3.0% a<sup>-1</sup>) and surface PM<sub>2.5</sub> (2.8% a<sup>-1</sup>), so far only evaluated for London, is similar. Inconsistencies result from seasonal variability in the planetary boundary layer, differences in sampling footprint between the satellite and surface monitors, and interferences in the surface measurements (as is the case for NO<sub>2</sub>). We find a decrease in all pollutants in Birmingham and London and an increase in all pollutants in Delhi and Kanpur, over the analysis period, but not all trends are significant. Birmingham and London NO<sub>2</sub> both declined by 2.5% a<sup>-1</sup>, whereas Delhi NO<sub>2</sub> increased by 2.0% a<sup>-1</sup>, so that by the end of 2018 Delhi and London have the same tropospheric column concentrations of NO<sub>2</sub>. Only Delhi exhibits a significant NMVOCs trend (increase) of 1.8% a<sup>-1</sup>. NH<sub>3</sub> trends are not significant in any of the four cities, consistent with bottom-up inventories and lack of direct controls on emissions of this pollutant, mostly from agriculture. These data show no evidence of air quality improvements in Delhi, despite rollout of strict controls on industry and vehicles.</p>

The impact of an air quality advisory program on voluntary mobile source air pollution reduction

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (13) ◽  
pp. 2417-2421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D Blanken ◽  
Jennifer Dillon ◽  
Genevieve Wismann
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Mobile Source ◽  
Advisory Program ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals The impact of air pollution on terrestrial managed and natural vegetation

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2183) ◽  
pp. 20190317 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Stevens ◽  
J. N. B. Bell ◽  
P. Brimblecombe ◽  
C. M. Clark ◽  
N. B. Dise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Although awareness that air pollution can damage vegetation dates back at least to the 1600s, the processes and mechanisms of damage were not rigorously studied until the late twentieth century. In the UK following the Industrial Revolution, urban air quality became very poor, with highly phytotoxic SO 2 and NO 2 concentrations, and remained that way until the mid-twentieth century. Since then both air quality, and our understanding of pollutants and their impacts, have greatly improved. Air pollutants remain a threat to natural and managed ecosystems. Air pollution imparts impacts through four major threats to vegetation are discussed through in a series of case studies. Gas-phase effects by the primary emissions of SO 2 and NO 2 are discussed in the context of impacts on lichens in urban areas. The effects of wet and dry deposited acidity from sulfur and nitrogen compounds are considered with a particular focus on forest decline. Ecosystem eutrophication by nitrogen deposition focuses on heathland decline in the Netherlands, and ground-level ozone at phytotoxic concentrations is discussed by considering impacts on semi-natural vegetation. We find that, although air is getting cleaner, there is much room for additional improvement, especially for the effects of eutrophication on managed and natural ecosystems. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Air quality, past present and future’.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document