Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution in Chinese megacities from the perspective of traffic volume and meteorological factors

Chanchan Gao; Shuhui Li; Min Liu; Fengying Zhang; V. Achal; Yue Tu; Shiqing Zhang; Chaolin Cai

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145545

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution in Chinese megacities from the perspective of traffic volume and meteorological factors

Chanchan Gao, Shuhui Li, Min Liu^*, Fengying Zhang, V. Achal, Yue Tu, Shiqing Zhang, Chaolin Cai

^*Corresponding author for this work

Environmental Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a widespread lockdown in many cities in China. In this study, we assessed the impact of changes in human activities on air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic by determining the relationships between air quality, traffic volume, and meteorological conditions. The megacities of Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were selected as the study area, and the variation trends of air pollutants for the period January–May between 2016 and 2020 were analyzed. The passenger volume of public transportation (PVPT) and the passenger volume of taxis (PVT) along with data on precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and boundary layer height were used to identify and quantify the driving force of the air pollution variation. The results showed that the change rates of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), NO₂, and SO₂ before and during the lockdown in the four megacities ranged from −49.9% to 78.2% (average: −9.4% ± 59.3%), −55.4% to −32.3% (average: −43.0% ± 9.7%), and − 21.1% to 11.9% (average: −10.9% ± 15.4%), respectively. The response of NO₂ to the lockdown was the most sensitive, while the response of PM_2.5 was smaller and more delayed. During the lockdown period, haze from uninterrupted industrial emissions and fireworks under the effect of air mass transport from surrounding areas and adverse climate conditions was probably the cause of abnormally high PM_2.5 concentrations in Beijing. In addition, the PVT was the most significant factor for NO₂, and meteorology had a greater impact on PM_2.5 than NO₂ and SO₂. There is a need for more national-level policies for limiting firework displays and traffic emissions, as well as further studies on the formation and transmission of secondary air pollutants.

Original language	English
Article number	145545
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	773
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145545
State	Published - 15 Jun 2021

Keywords

Air pollutants
COVID-19
China
Meteorological factors
Traffic volume

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145545

Cite this

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title = "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution in Chinese megacities from the perspective of traffic volume and meteorological factors",

abstract = "During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a widespread lockdown in many cities in China. In this study, we assessed the impact of changes in human activities on air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic by determining the relationships between air quality, traffic volume, and meteorological conditions. The megacities of Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were selected as the study area, and the variation trends of air pollutants for the period January–May between 2016 and 2020 were analyzed. The passenger volume of public transportation (PVPT) and the passenger volume of taxis (PVT) along with data on precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and boundary layer height were used to identify and quantify the driving force of the air pollution variation. The results showed that the change rates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), NO2, and SO2 before and during the lockdown in the four megacities ranged from −49.9% to 78.2% (average: −9.4% ± 59.3%), −55.4% to −32.3% (average: −43.0% ± 9.7%), and − 21.1% to 11.9% (average: −10.9% ± 15.4%), respectively. The response of NO2 to the lockdown was the most sensitive, while the response of PM2.5 was smaller and more delayed. During the lockdown period, haze from uninterrupted industrial emissions and fireworks under the effect of air mass transport from surrounding areas and adverse climate conditions was probably the cause of abnormally high PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing. In addition, the PVT was the most significant factor for NO2, and meteorology had a greater impact on PM2.5 than NO2 and SO2. There is a need for more national-level policies for limiting firework displays and traffic emissions, as well as further studies on the formation and transmission of secondary air pollutants.",

keywords = "Air pollutants, COVID-19, China, Meteorological factors, Traffic volume",

author = "Chanchan Gao and Shuhui Li and Min Liu and Fengying Zhang and V. Achal and Yue Tu and Shiqing Zhang and Chaolin Cai",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145545",

language = "英语",

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journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution in Chinese megacities from the perspective of traffic volume and meteorological factors

AU - Gao, Chanchan

AU - Li, Shuhui

AU - Liu, Min

AU - Zhang, Fengying

AU - Achal, V.

AU - Tu, Yue

AU - Zhang, Shiqing

AU - Cai, Chaolin

PY - 2021/6/15

Y1 - 2021/6/15

N2 - During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a widespread lockdown in many cities in China. In this study, we assessed the impact of changes in human activities on air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic by determining the relationships between air quality, traffic volume, and meteorological conditions. The megacities of Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were selected as the study area, and the variation trends of air pollutants for the period January–May between 2016 and 2020 were analyzed. The passenger volume of public transportation (PVPT) and the passenger volume of taxis (PVT) along with data on precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and boundary layer height were used to identify and quantify the driving force of the air pollution variation. The results showed that the change rates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), NO2, and SO2 before and during the lockdown in the four megacities ranged from −49.9% to 78.2% (average: −9.4% ± 59.3%), −55.4% to −32.3% (average: −43.0% ± 9.7%), and − 21.1% to 11.9% (average: −10.9% ± 15.4%), respectively. The response of NO2 to the lockdown was the most sensitive, while the response of PM2.5 was smaller and more delayed. During the lockdown period, haze from uninterrupted industrial emissions and fireworks under the effect of air mass transport from surrounding areas and adverse climate conditions was probably the cause of abnormally high PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing. In addition, the PVT was the most significant factor for NO2, and meteorology had a greater impact on PM2.5 than NO2 and SO2. There is a need for more national-level policies for limiting firework displays and traffic emissions, as well as further studies on the formation and transmission of secondary air pollutants.

AB - During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a widespread lockdown in many cities in China. In this study, we assessed the impact of changes in human activities on air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic by determining the relationships between air quality, traffic volume, and meteorological conditions. The megacities of Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were selected as the study area, and the variation trends of air pollutants for the period January–May between 2016 and 2020 were analyzed. The passenger volume of public transportation (PVPT) and the passenger volume of taxis (PVT) along with data on precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and boundary layer height were used to identify and quantify the driving force of the air pollution variation. The results showed that the change rates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), NO2, and SO2 before and during the lockdown in the four megacities ranged from −49.9% to 78.2% (average: −9.4% ± 59.3%), −55.4% to −32.3% (average: −43.0% ± 9.7%), and − 21.1% to 11.9% (average: −10.9% ± 15.4%), respectively. The response of NO2 to the lockdown was the most sensitive, while the response of PM2.5 was smaller and more delayed. During the lockdown period, haze from uninterrupted industrial emissions and fireworks under the effect of air mass transport from surrounding areas and adverse climate conditions was probably the cause of abnormally high PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing. In addition, the PVT was the most significant factor for NO2, and meteorology had a greater impact on PM2.5 than NO2 and SO2. There is a need for more national-level policies for limiting firework displays and traffic emissions, as well as further studies on the formation and transmission of secondary air pollutants.

KW - Air pollutants

KW - COVID-19

KW - China

KW - Meteorological factors

KW - Traffic volume

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DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145545

M3 - 文章

C2 - 33940731

AN - SCOPUS:85100888199

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 773

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 145545

ER -

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution in Chinese megacities from the perspective of traffic volume and meteorological factors

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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