Abstract
Social restriction in cities to curb infection rates of COVID-19 has become an opportunity to investigate the relationship between humans and the urban atmosphere. We evaluate the impact of the decline in human activities as a result of social distancing on the urban CO2 concentrations and air quality in Seoul during February and March of 2020 compared to 2019. Due to the reduction in human activity in 2020, local measurements of CO and NO2 show a decrease in background concentration (up to –11.9% and –41.7%, respectively) and urban enhancement (up to –16.7% and –38.1%, respectively) compared to the previous year. In contrast, the background concentration of CO2 increases by 3.9% in 2020. Ratios of CO:CO2 and NO2:CO2 also show a decrease in 2020 compared to the previous year, signaling an improvement in the urban air quality of Seoul. Moreover, the insignificant change in wind speed and wind direction during the months of February and March 2020 compared to 2019 implies that CO2, CO, and NO2 concentrations have not been influenced by meteorological conditions, but mainly by changes in emissions from decreased human activity. Despite the rise in background CO2 concentration, urban contributions of CO2 show a decline of –12.6%, indicating that cities with high emissions have the potential to reduce urban CO2 enhancements and air pollutant concentrations, and ultimately impact the global atmosphere.
Highlights
Publisher: Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research ISSN: 1680-8584 print ISSN: 2071-1409 onlineCopyright: The Author(s)
This study examined the impact of decreased human activity on the urban atmosphere of Seoul due to social distancing actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 using data from various measurements
Results of traffic and floating population data show that there has been a significant decline in human activity in Seoul during February and March 2020 compared to the corresponding months in 2019
Summary
Publisher: Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research ISSN: 1680-8584 print ISSN: 2071-1409 onlineCopyright: The Author(s). The emergence of COVID-19 has resulted in countries taking various emergency measures to contain the virus from spreading, ranging from social distancing to shelter-in-place regulations, and even drastic government orders of a complete quarantine or lockdown of entire cities. Such orders have led to a slowdown in economic activity as well as a substantial decrease in human activity. As urban air quality is heavily dependent on human activities such as vehicle use, home heating, and industrial activity (Clerbaux et al, 2008; Lamsal et al, 2013), social restrictions in cities to “flatten the curve” and slow down the spread of the virus has become a prime opportunity for a natural experiment to observe the relationship between human activity and the urban atmosphere, and Aerosol and Air Quality Research | https://aaqr.org
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