Characterizing the air pollution of the cities in the closure of corona virus disease 2019 in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China, energy and vehicle consumption have continued to increase in recent years and air pollution has become serious. In early 2020, Corona Virus Disease 2019 broke out in Wuhan, China. From January 29, 2020, several sources of the air pollution almost all stopped working, including gasoline burning vehicles, dust producing building sites, coal-fired factories, etc. Five indicators of the atmospheric environmental quality were observed from December 19, 2019 to April 30, 2020 in nine cities and 1-h average concentrations, 24-h average concentrations and Air Quality Index were assessed. The 1-h average concentrations of the nitrogen dioxide, the ozone and the sulfur dioxide showed obvious difference though the closure did not change the sequence of the five pollutants’ concentrations in the air at diverse sampling moments. The changing of the 24-h average concentrations of the five pollutants indicated the amount of pollutants in the air were greatly affected by human activities. The nitrogen dioxide, the sulfur dioxide and the particulate matters decreased obviously in the closure. The air in the metropolis and the south-east cities were relatively clean and the pollutants’ concentrations decreased slightly during the closure period. The northern and the heavy industrial cities showed significant drop on air pollution indicators and the air quality of the two city groups could be greatly improved if some effective measures could be taken of environmental management and regional development.