Dramatic Lockdown Fossil Fuel CO₂ Decrease Detected by Citizen Science-Supported Atmospheric Radiocarbon Observations.

ABSTRACT: COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in dramatic changes to fossil fuel CO₂ emissions around the world, most prominently in the transportation sector. Yet travel restrictions also hampered observational data collection, making it difficult to evaluate emission changes as they occurred. To overcome this, we used a novel citizen science campaign to detect emission changes during lockdown and engage youth in climate science. Citizen scientists collected grass samples from their garden or local park, from which we analyzed the radiocarbon content to infer the recently added atmospheric fossil fuel CO₂ mole fraction at each sampling location. The local fossil fuel CO₂ mole fractions during lockdown were compared with a "normal" nonlockdown period. Our results from 17 sit

SUBMITTER: Turnbull JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9301917 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature