Abstract
This study investigates changes in pollution associated with the lockdown period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Galati (45.43° N, 28.03° E), a Romanian city located in the southeast of Romania. The study is focused on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a trace gas which can be related to emissions from industrial activities, heating, and transportation. The investigation is based on in situ observations from local Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS) and mobile remote sensing observations by Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique. We also show results of the NO2 vertical column measured by TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument), a space instrument onboard of satellite mission Sentinel-5P, to complement local ground-based measurements. For in situ observations, the lockdown interval (23 March 2020–15 May 2020) was separated from normal periods. The decrease in local NO2 concentration during lockdown, measured in situ, is rather small, of about 10–40% at the most, is observed only at some stations, and is better seen during workdays than during weekends. We conclude that the decrease in NO2 content over Galati city during lockdown is relatively small and may be attributed to the reduction in local traffic, a consequence of special measures and restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 lockdown by the Romanian authorities.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory SyndromeCoronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the source of an ongoing global pandemic event [1]. not much is known yet, COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disease, which may affect the lungs and respiratory system [2]
This will be performed by comparing NO2 content before, during, and after the lockdown in 2020, using TROPOMI, in situ, and Differential Optical Absorption
The study is organized as follows: the data and methodology are described in Section 2, the results and discussions are presented in Section 3, while Section 4 is dedicated to conclusions
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the source of an ongoing global pandemic event [1]. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 544 warm seasons and week days, NO2 emissions are mostly caused by industrial activities and transportation inside the city [5]. The severe lockdown, aiming at diminishing infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, presented the opportunity to study NO2 variability during a period where some anthropogenic NO2 sources were reduced. Assessing whether a decline in NO2 is caused by lockdown (via changes in anthropogenic emissions) can be performed if NO2 variability during similar periods in other years is investigated. The aim of this work is to assess the effects of lockdown on NO2 content in the city of Galati, Romania This will be performed by comparing NO2 content before, during, and after the lockdown in 2020, using TROPOMI, in situ, and Differential Optical Absorption. The study is organized as follows: the data and methodology are described in Section 2, the results and discussions are presented in Section 3, while Section 4 is dedicated to conclusions
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