COVID-19 Impact on the Italian Community-based System of Mental Health Care: Reflections and Lessons Learned for the Future

Surface longwave downward radiation (LWDR) is a key factor affecting the surface energy balance. The daily LWDR and the diurnal variations of LWDR are of great significance for studies of climate change and surface processes. How to obtain LWDR at an averaged temporal scale from instantaneous LWDR is one of the longstanding problems in the field of radiation budget from remote sensing. In this paper, two temporal upscaling methods are introduced, namely, a method based on the diurnal variations of LWDR (diurnal variation based, DVB) and a method based on random forest regression (RFR). The results reveal that: (1) The DVB method has a global hourly and daily LWDR root-mean-square error (RMSE) of less than 21 W/m2 and 15 W/m2, respectively, and the RMSE of the daily LWDR based on RFR is less than 7 W/m2;(2) When compared with four existing statistical interpolation methods, the DVB method can not only ensure the accuracy, but also can overcome the problem of missing samples and/or an abnormal samples during upscaling;(3) Except for directly predict daily LWDR, the DVB methods can also obtain more accurate LWDR diurnal variations such as hourly, half-hourly etc. The RFR method enables high-efficiency and accurate estimation of daily averaged LWDR from instantaneous measurements. Compared with existing methods and products, the proposed methods are not only efficient, but also have a superior applicability and reliable accuracy. The proposed strategies provide new ideas for the community in estimating LWDR at continuous temporal scales from remotely sensed measurements.

Increased Shamal winds and dust activity over the Arabian Peninsula during the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020.

While anthropogenic pollutants have decreased during the lockdown imposed as an effort to contain the spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), changes in particulate matter (PM) do not necessarily exhibit the same tendency. This is the case for the eastern Arabian Peninsula, where in March-June 2020, and with respect to the same period in 2016-2019, a 30 % increase in PM concentration is observed. A stronger than normal nocturnal low-level jet and subtropical jet over parts of Saudi Arabia, in response to anomalous convection over the tropical Indian Ocean, promoted enhanced and more frequent episodes of Shamal winds over the Arabian Peninsula. Increased surface winds associated with the downward mixing of momentum to the surface fostered, in turn, dust lifting and increased PM concentrations. The stronger low-level winds also favoured long-range transport of aerosols, changing the PM values downstream. The competing effects of reduced anthropogenic and increased dust concentrations leave a small positive signal (<5 W m-2) in the net surface radiation flux (Rnet), with the former dominating during daytime and the latter at night. However, in parts of the Arabian Gulf, Sea of Oman and Iran Rnet increased by >20 W m-2 with respect to the baseline period, owing to a clearer environment and weaker winds. It is concluded that a reduction in anthropogenic emissions due to the lockdown does not necessarily go hand in hand with lower particulate matter concentrations. Therefore, emissions reduction strategies need to account for feedback effects in order to reach the planned long-term outcomes.

Reduction of surface radiative forcing observed from remote sensing data during global COVID-19 lockdown.

The calamity of the COVID-19 pandemic during the early half of 2020 not only caused a huge physical and economic loss but altered the social behavior of the whole world. The social and economic stagnation imposed in many countries and served as a major cause of perturbation in atmospheric composition. This paper utilized the relation between atmospheric composition and surface radiation and analyzed the impact of global COVID-19 lockdown on land surface solar and thermal radiation. Top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface radiation are obtained from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and European Reanalysis product (ERA5) reanalysis product. Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) while Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are obtained from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Observations of all mentioned parameters are studied for the global lockdown period of 2020 (from January to July) and compared with the corresponding months of the previous four years (2016-19) observations. Regarding surface radiation, April 2020 is the most affected month during the pandemic in which 0.2% increased net solar radiation (NSR), while 3.45% and 4.8% decreased net thermal radiation (NTR) and net radiation (NR) respectively was observed. Average radiative forcing during March-May 2020 was observed as 1.09 Wm-2, -2.19 Wm-2 and -1.09 Wm-2 for NSR, NTR and NR, respectively. AOD was reduced by 0.2% in May 2020 while NO2 and SO2 were reduced by 5.4% and 8.8%, respectively, in April 2020. It was observed that NO2 kept on reducing since January 2020 while SO2 kept on reducing since February 2020 which were the pre-lockdown months. These results suggest that a more sophisticated analysis is needed to explain the atmosphere-radiation relation.