green living
ters of the outbreak. T eir research shows that NO2
pollution over Chinese cities
decreased by an average of 40 percent dur- ing the lockdown compared to the same period in 2019. Across the United Kingdom, the
reduction in traffi c and industry similarly impacted the climate. Within the fi rst six weeks of lockdowns, in London, Birming- ham, Bristol and Cardiff , NO2
and fi ne
Air Gets Cleaner Around the Globe by Kimberly B. Whittle
OF LOCKDOWNS THE UPSIDE A
round the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way millions of people live their day-
to-day lives, but despite their dire conse- quences, government-mandated lock- downs have had an unintended positive consequence: cleaner air. In China, as major cities shuttered factories and reduced transportation
earlier this year, experts found that carbon emissions dropped by about 100 million tons over a two-week period. Scientists at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, in Brussels, are using satellite measurements of air quality to estimate the changes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2
)—a
pollutant emitted into the air when fossil fuels are burned—over the major epicen-
particulate pollutant levels dropped by a third to half, with large declines recorded in other cities. T ese are the two air pollut- ants that have the biggest health impacts on people, says James Lee, professor of atmo- spheric chemistry at the University of York and research fellow at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. T e U.S. has been part of these trends,
as well. In Los Angeles, known for its smog, the air quality index improved by about 20 percent during March. According to Yifang Zhu, a professor at the University of California (UC) Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, during March, the region recorded the longest stretch of “good” air quality that it has experienced for 25 years. NASA has observed signifi cant air
quality improvements in other parts of the U.S., as well. Satellite data for March showed that the mid-Atlantic and North- east regions had the lowest monthly at- mospheric levels of NO2 2005. Data on NO2
from the Aura Ozone
Monitoring Instrument over the North- east in March indicated that levels of the
that month since
20
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