Changes in short-lived climate pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tehran, Iran.
Environ Monit Assess
; 193(6): 331, 2021 May 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1219008
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the changes of short-lived climate pollutants and other air pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tehran, Iran. Concentrations of air pollutants were obtained from 21 monitoring stations for the period from 5 January 2019 to 5 August 2019, representing normal conditions unaffected by COVID-19, and the period 5 January 2020 to 5 August 2020, i.e., during the COVID-19 crisis. We concentrated our analysis on three time windows (23 February 2020 to 15 March 2020, 18 March 2020 to 3 April 2020, and 5 April 2020 to 17 April 2020) during the lockdown when different sets of measures were taken to limit the spread of COVID-19. In comparison to the period not affected by COVID-19 measures, mean concentrations of pollutants were increased during the first lockdown period; when the number of COVID-19 patients increased sharply compared to the other periods, the mean surface concentrations of NO2, SO2, and CO were decreased and concentrations of other pollutants (i.e., O3, PM10, and PM2.5) were increased during the second lockdown period compared to the corresponding period in 2019. In the third period, the mean concentrations were decreased compared to the corresponding period in 2019. For the full period, decreases in mean concentrations of O3, NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10 and increases in PM2.5 were observed during the COVID-19 crisis, compared to 2019. Overall, the strongest reductions, 12% and 6%, respectively, were observed for CO and NO2, pointing to reduced emissions from traffic as a result of lockdown measures. The concentrations of other pollutants changed little, suggesting that the lockdown measures did not result in strong changes in the emissions from stationary sources.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Air Pollutants
/
Air Pollution
/
Environmental Pollutants
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Environ Monit Assess
Journal subject:
Environmental Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S10661-021-09096-w
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