Abstract
Spaceborne NO2 column observations from two high-resolution instruments, Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board Sentinel-5 Precursor and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on Aura, reveal unprecedented NO2 decreases over China, South Korea, western Europe, and the United States as a result of public health measures enforced to contain the coronavirus disease outbreak (Covid-19) in January–April 2020. The average NO2 column drop over all Chinese cities amounts to −40% relative to the same period in 2019 and reaches up to a factor of ~2 at heavily hit cities, for example, Wuhan, Jinan, while the decreases in western Europe and the United States are also significant (−20% to −38%). In contrast with this, although Iran is also strongly affected by the disease, the observations do not show evidence of lower emissions, reflecting more limited health measures.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2020GL087978 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- air quality
- coronavirus outbreak
- emissions
- lockdown
- satellite NO