Significant reduction of ultrafine particle emission fluxes to the urban atmosphere during the COVID-19 lockdown.

ABSTRACT: The worldwide restrictions of social contacts that were implemented in spring 2020 to slow down infection rates of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted in significant modifications in mobility behaviour of urban residents. We used three-year eddy covariance measurements of size-resolved particle number fluxes from an urban site in Berlin to estimate the effects of reduced traffic intensity on particle fluxes. Similar observations of urban surface-atmosphere exchange of size-resolved particles that focus on COVID-19 lockdown-related effects are not available, yet. Although the site remained a net emission source for ultrafine particles (UFP, D_p < 100 nm), the median upward flux of ultrafine particles (F_UFP) decreased from 8.78 × 10⁷ m^-2 s^-1 in

SUBMITTER: Straaten A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9170283 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature