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Biswas T, Pal SC, Saha A. Strict lockdown measures reduced PM 2.5 concentrations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kolkata, India. SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 2022; 8:180. [PMID: 36278114 PMCID: PMC9576136 DOI: 10.1007/s40899-022-00763-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 situation is a critical state throughout the world that most countries have been forced to implement partial to total lockdown to control the COVID-19 disease outbreak. And displays the natural power to rejuvenate herself without the interference of human beings. So, the top-level emergency response including full quarantine actions are significant measures against the COVID-19 and resulted in a notable reduction in PM2.5 in the atmosphere. India was severely attacked by COVID-19, and as a result, the Government of India has imposed a nationwide lockdown from 24th March (2020) to 30th May (2020) in different phases. The COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown had a significant negative impact on India's socioeconomic structure but had a positive impact on environmental sustainability in terms of improved air quality due to the 68 days of the shutdown of India's industrial, commercial, construction, and transportation systems. The current study looked at the spatio-temporal changes in PM2.5 concentrations at different air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) in Kolkata during the COVID-19 period. The study revealed that the average concentration of PM2.5 (µg/m3) was slightly high (139.82) in the pre-lockdown period which was rapidly reduced to 37.77 (72.99% reduction) during the lockdown period and it was further increased (137.11) in post-lockdown period. The study also shows that the average concentration of PM2.5 was 66.83 in 2018, which slightly increased to 70.43 (5.39%) in 2019 and dramatically decreased to 37.77 (46.37%) in the year 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown. The study clearly shows that air quality improves during lockdown periods in Kolkata, but it is not a permanent solution rather than temporary. Therefore, it is necessary to make the proper policies and strategies by policymakers and government authorities, and environmental scientists to maintain such good air quality by controlling several measures of air pollutants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanmoy Biswas
- Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, West Bengal 713104 India
| | - Subodh Chandra Pal
- Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, West Bengal 713104 India
| | - Asish Saha
- Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, West Bengal 713104 India
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2
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Trends in Summer-Time Tropospheric Ozone during COVID-19 Lockdown in Indian Cities Might Forecast a Higher Future Risk. ATMOSPHERE 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/atmos13071115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
High concentrations of tropospheric ozone (O3) is a serious concern in India. The generation and atmospheric dynamics of this trace gas depend on the availability of its precursors and meteorological variables. Like other parts of the world, the COVID-19 imposed lockdown and restrictions on major anthropogenic activities executed a positive impact on the ambient air quality with reduced primary pollutants/precursors load. In spite of this, several reports pointed towards a higher O3 in major Indian cities during the lockdown. The present study designed with 30 pan-Indian mega-, class I-, and class II-cities revealed critical and contrasting aspects of the geographical location, source, precursor, and meteorological variable dependency of the spatial and temporal O3 formation. This unexpected O3 increase in the major cities might forecast the probable future risks for the National Air Quality policies, especially O3 pollution management, in the Indian sub-continent. The results also pointed towards the severity of the north Indian air quality, followed by the western and eastern parts. We believe these results will definitely pave the way for researchers and policy-makers for predicting/framing regional and/or national O3 management strategies in the future.
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Restricted Anthropogenic Activities and Improved Urban Air Quality in China: Evidence from Real-Time and Remotely Sensed Datasets Using Air Quality Zonal Modeling. ATMOSPHERE 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/atmos13060961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The study aims to examine the major atmospheric air pollutants such as NO2, CO, O3, PM2.5, PM10, and SO2 to assess the overall air quality using air quality zonal modeling of 15 major cities of China before and after the COVID-19 pandemic period. The spatio-temporal changes in NO2 and other atmospheric pollutants exhibited enormous reduction due to the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. The present study used a 10-day as well as 60-day tropospheric column time-average map of NO2 with spatial resolution 0.25 × 0.25° obtained from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA. The air quality zonal model was employed to assess the total NO2 load and its change during the pandemic period for each specific region. Ground surface monitoring data for CO, NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5, and SO2 including Air Quality Index (AQI) were collected from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (MEPC). The results from both datasets demonstrated that NO2 has drastically dropped in all the major cities across China. The concentration of CO, PM10, PM2.5, and SO2 demonstrated a decreasing trend whereas the concentration of O3 increased substantially in all cities after the lockdown effect as observed from real-time monitoring data. Because of the complete shutdown of all industrial activities and vehicular movements, the atmosphere experienced a lower concentration of major pollutants that improves the overall air quality. The regulation of anthropogenic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not only contained the spread of the virus but also facilitated the improvement of the overall air quality. Guangzhou (43%), Harbin (42%), Jinan (33%), and Chengdu (32%) have experienced maximum air quality improving rates, whereas Anshan (7%), Lanzhou (17%), and Xian (25%) exhibited less improved AQI among 15 cities of China during the study period. The government needs to establish an environmental policy framework involving central, provincial, and local governments with stringent laws for environmental protection.
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Kant R, Trivedi A, Ghadai B, Kumar V, Mallik C. Interpreting the COVID effect on atmospheric constituents over the Indian region during the lockdown: chemistry, meteorology, and seasonality. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2022; 194:274. [PMID: 35286487 PMCID: PMC8918593 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-022-09932-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Most of the published articles which document changes in atmospheric compositions during the various lockdown and unlock phases of COVID-19 pandemic have made a direct comparison to a reference point (which may be 1 year apart) for attribution of the COVID-mediated lockdown impact on atmospheric composition. In the present study, we offer a better attribution of the lockdown impacts by also considering the effect of meteorology and seasonality. We decrease the temporal distance between the impacted and reference points by considering the difference of adjacent periods first and then comparing the impacted point to the mean of several reference points in the previous years. Additionally, we conduct a multi-station analysis to get a holistic effect of the different climatic and emission regimes. In several places in eastern and coastal India, the seasonally induced changes already pointed to a decrease in PM concentrations based on the previous year data; hence, the actual decrease due to lockdown would be much less than that observed just on the basis of difference of concentrations between subsequent periods. In contrast, northern Indian stations would normally show an increase in PM concentration at the time of the year when lockdown was effected; hence, actual lockdown-induced change would be in surplus of the observed change. The impact of wind-borne transport of pollutants to the study sites dominates over the dilution effects. Box model simulations point to a VOC-sensitive composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahul Kant
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305801, India
| | - Avani Trivedi
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305801, India
| | - Bibhutimaya Ghadai
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305801, India
| | - Vinod Kumar
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Chinmay Mallik
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305801, India.
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Saharan US, Kumar R, Tripathy P, Sateesh M, Garg J, Sharma SK, Mandal TK. Drivers of air pollution variability during second wave of COVID-19 in Delhi, India. URBAN CLIMATE 2022; 41:101059. [PMID: 34934612 PMCID: PMC8674516 DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.101059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/12/2021] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
To curb the 2nd wave of COVID-19 disease in April-May 2021, a night curfew followed by full lockdown was imposed over the National Capital Territory, Delhi. We have analyzed the observed variation in pollutants and meteorology, and role of local and transboundary emission sources during night-curfew and lockdown, as compared to pre-lockdown period and identical periods of 2020 lockdown as well as of 2018 and 2019. In 2021, concentration of pollutants (except O₃, SO₂, and toluene) declined by 4-16% during night-curfew as compared to the pre-lockdown period but these changes are not statistically significant. During lockdown in 2021, various pollutants decreased by 1-28% as compared to the night-curfew (except O₃ and PM₂.₅), but increased by 31-129% compared to the identical period of 2020 lockdown except O₃. Advection of pollutants from the region of moderate lockdown restrictions and an abrupt increase in crop-residue burning activity (120-587%) over Haryana and Punjab increased the air pollution levels over NCT during the lockdown period of 2021 as compared to 2020 in addition to a significant contribution of long-range transport. The increase in PM₂.₅ during the lockdown period of 2021 compared to 2020 might led to 5-29 additional premature mortalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ummed Singh Saharan
- CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012, India
- Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Rajesh Kumar
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Pratyush Tripathy
- Geospatial Lab, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru 560 080, India
| | - M Sateesh
- National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, Noida 201309, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Jyoti Garg
- Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001, India
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMAS), New Delhi, Delhi 110001, India
| | - Sudhir Kumar Sharma
- CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012, India
- Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Tuhin Kumar Mandal
- CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012, India
- Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Saadat MN, Das S, Nandy S, Pandey D, Chakraborty M, Mina U, Sarkar A. Can the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown help India identify region-specific strategies for air pollution? SPATIAL INFORMATION RESEARCH 2022; 30:233-247. [PMCID: PMC8683321 DOI: 10.1007/s41324-021-00426-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
Air pollution is a serious concern with the developing economics in India and gets more severe when it has major cities ranked among the top 30 polluted cities worldwide. To find a solution, different programs and/or policies have been launched for air quality management country-wide. Unfortunately, no such plan could effectively solve the purpose rather than an unexpected COVID-19 pandemic situation in India. Our study focused on the air pollution status and air quality index (AQI) in 42 cities (that includes 6 metros) representing North, South, East, West, Central, and North-East region of India during the pre-lockdown, four lockdowns and unlock phases. The results depict most of the pollutants except ozone (O3) were significantly reduced in the lockdown-1, and marginally increased in subsequent lockdown phases. Regarding the average AQI, its value was highest in North Indian cities (227), followed by East India (172), Central India (141), North-East India (130), West India (124), and South India (83) during the pre-lockdown. Due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, North Indian cities observed the highest dip in average AQI (108), followed by Central India (113), East India (82), West India (73), South India (55), and North-East India (49) in the lockdown and unlock phases. Thus, the study gave a conspicuous vision on mitigation of air pollution under this pandemic; and, if strategic centralized policies are sensibly implemented and by involving the participation of people of India, then there is a feasibility of air pollution issue management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md Najmus Saadat
- Laboratory of Applied Stress Biology, Department of Botany, University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal 732 103 India
| | - Sujit Das
- Laboratory of Applied Stress Biology, Department of Botany, University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal 732 103 India
| | - Senjuti Nandy
- Laboratory of Applied Stress Biology, Department of Botany, University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal 732 103 India
| | - Divya Pandey
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Monojit Chakraborty
- Environmental Engineering and Social Planning Division, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 110044 India
| | - Usha Mina
- School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067 India
| | - Abhijit Sarkar
- Laboratory of Applied Stress Biology, Department of Botany, University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal 732 103 India
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Robin RS, Purvaja R, Ganguly D, Hariharan G, Paneerselvam A, Sundari RT, Karthik R, Neethu CS, Saravanakumar C, Semanti P, Prasad MHK, Mugilarasan M, Rohan S, Arumugam K, Samuel VD, Ramesh R. COVID-19 restrictions and their influences on ambient air, surface water and plastic waste in a coastal megacity, Chennai, India. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2021; 171:112739. [PMID: 34304059 PMCID: PMC8458696 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities experienced a pause due to the nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the third week of March 2020. The impacts of suspension of industrial activities, vehicular transport and other businesses for three months (25 March-30 June) on the environmental settings of Chennai, a coastal megacity was assessed. A significant reduction in the key urban air pollutants [PM2.5 (66.5%), PM10 (39.5%), NO2 (94.1%), CO (29%), O3 (45.3%)] was recorded as an immediate consequence of the reduced anthropogenic activities. Comparison of water quality of an urban river Adyar, between pre-lockdown and lockdown, showed a substantial drop in the dissolved inorganic N (47%) and suspended particulate matter (41%) during the latter period. During the pandemic, biomedical wastes in India showed an overall surge of 17%, which were predominantly plastic. FTIR-ATR analysis confirmed the polymers such as polypropylene (25.4%) and polyester (15.4%) in the personal protective equipment.
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Affiliation(s)
- R S Robin
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Purvaja
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - D Ganguly
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - G Hariharan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - A Paneerselvam
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R T Sundari
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Karthik
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - C S Neethu
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - C Saravanakumar
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - P Semanti
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M H K Prasad
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - S Rohan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - K Arumugam
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - V D Samuel
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Ramesh
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Arunkumar M, Dhanakumar S. Influence of meteorology, mobility, air mass transport and biomass burning on PM 2.5 of three north Indian cities: phase-wise analysis of the COVID-19 lockdown. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2021; 193:618. [PMID: 34476627 PMCID: PMC8412385 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-021-09400-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Recent studies concluded that air quality has improved due to the enforcement of lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. However, they mostly concentrated on the changes during the lockdown period, and the studies considering the consequences of de-escalation of lockdown are inadequate. Therefore, we investigated the changes in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during the pre-lockdown, strict lockdown, unlocking, and post-lockdown scenarios. In addition, we assessed the influence of meteorology, mobility, air mass transport, and biomass burning on PM2.5 using Google's mobility data, back trajectory model, and satellite-based fire incident data. Average PM2.5 concentrations in Ghaziabad, Noida, and Faridabad decreased by 60.70%, 63.27%, and 60.40%, respectively, during the lockdown. When compared with the preceding year (2019), the reductions during the shutdown period (25 March-31 May) were within the range of 36.34-44.55%. However, considering the entire year, this reduction in PM2.5 is momentary, and a steady increase in traffic density and industrial operations within cities during post-lockdown reflects a potent recovery of aerosol level, during which the average mass of PM2.5 three- to four-folds higher than the lockdown period. Back trajectories and fire activity results showed that biomass burning in the nearby states (Haryana and Punjab) influence aerosol load. We conclude that a partial lockdown in the event of a sudden surge in pollution would be a beneficial approach. However, reducing fossil fuel consumption and switching to more environmentally friendly energy sources, developing green transport networks, and circumventing biomass burning are efficient ways to improve air quality in the long term.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Arunkumar
- Department of Environmental Science, PSG College of Arts and Science, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, India 641014
| | - S. Dhanakumar
- Department of Environmental Science, PSG College of Arts and Science, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, India 641014
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