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Air quality development during the COVID-19 pandemic over a medium-sized urban area in Thailand
Science of the Total Environment Số , năm 2020 (Tập 746, trang -)
ISSN: 489697
ISSN: 489697
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141320
Tài liệu thuộc danh mục: ISI, Scopus
Article
English
Từ khóa: Industrial emissions; Nitrogen oxides; Viruses; Air quality improvement; Atmospheric constituents; Environmental benefits; Industrial activities; Medium-sized urban areas; Meteorological station; PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations; Temporal development; Air quality; nitrogen dioxide; ozone; air quality; concentration (composition); COVID-19; megacity; nitrogen dioxide; particulate matter; respiratory disease; Sentinel; urban area; viral disease; air analysis; air quality; Article; concentration (parameter); coronavirus disease 2019; infection control; isolation; pandemic; particulate matter; priority journal; remote sensing; satellite imagery; seasonal variation; Thailand; troposphere; urban area; air pollutant; air pollution; Betacoronavirus; city; Coronavirus infection; environmental monitoring; epidemiology; human; pandemic; Thailand; virus pneumonia; Hat Yai; Songkhla; Southern Region; Thailand; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Betacoronavirus; Cities; Coronavirus Infections; Environmental Monitoring; Humans; Pandemics; Particulate Matter; Pneumonia, Viral; Thailand
Tóm tắt tiếng anh
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an industrial and financial slowdown due to unprecedented regulations imposed with the purpose to contain the spread of the virus. Consequently, the positive effect on the environment has been witnessed. One of the most prominent evidences has been the drastic air quality improvement, as a direct consequence of lower emissions from reduced industrial activity. While several studies have demonstrated the validity of this hypothesis in mega-cities worldwide, it is still an unsubstantiated fact whether the same holds true for cities with a smaller urban extent and population. In the present study we investigate the temporal development of atmospheric constituent concentrations as retrieved concurrently from the Sentinel-5P satellite and a ground meteorological station. We focus on the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic over the city of Hat Yai, Thailand and present the effect of the lockdown on the atmospheric quality over this average populated city (156,000 inhabitants). NO2, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations decreased by 33.7%, 21.8% and 22.9% respectively in the first 3 weeks of the lockdown compared to the respective pre-lockdown period; O3 also decreased by 12.5% and contrary to similar studies. Monthly averages of NO2, CO and PM2.5 for the month April exhibit in 2020 the lowest values in the last decade. Sentinel-5P retrieved NO2 tropospheric concentrations, both locally over the ground station and the spatial average over the urban extent of the city, are in agreement with the reduction observed from the ground station. Numerous studies have already presented evidence of the bettering of the air quality over large metropolitan areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current study we demonstrate that this holds true for Hat Yai, Thailand; we propound that the environmental benefits documented in major urban agglomerations during the lockdown may extend to medium-sized urban areas as well. � 2020
