Learning from the COVID-19 lockdown in berlin: Observations and modelling to support understanding policies to reduce NO₂.

ABSTRACT: Urban air pollution is a substantial threat to human health. Traffic emissions remain a large contributor to air pollution in urban areas. The mobility restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic provided a large-scale real-world experiment that allows for the evaluation of changes in traffic emissions and the corresponding changes in air quality. Here we use observational data, as well as modelling, to analyse changes in nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter resulting from the COVID-19 restrictions at the height of the lockdown period in Spring of 2020. Accounting for the influence of meteorology on air quality, we found that reduction of ca. 30-50 % in traffic counts, dominated by changes in passenger cars, corresponded to reductions in median observed nitrog

SUBMITTER: von Schneidemesser E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8545717 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature