Abrupt emissions reductions during COVID-19 contributed to record summer rainfall in China.
Nat Commun
; 13(1): 959, 2022 02 18.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1699459
ABSTRACT
Record rainfall and severe flooding struck eastern China in the summer of 2020. The extreme summer rainfall occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in China in early 2020 and spread rapidly across the globe. By disrupting human activities, substantial reductions in anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols might have affected regional precipitation in many ways. Here, we investigate such connections and show that the abrupt emissions reductions during the pandemic strengthened the summer atmospheric convection over eastern China, resulting in a positive sea level pressure anomaly over northwestern Pacific Ocean. The latter enhanced moisture convergence to eastern China and further intensified rainfall in that region. Modeling experiments show that the reduction in aerosols had a stronger impact on precipitation than the decrease of greenhouse gases did. We conclude that through abrupt emissions reductions, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed importantly to the 2020 extreme summer rainfall in eastern China.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rain
/
Vehicle Emissions
/
Aerosols
/
Greenhouse Gases
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Nat Commun
Journal subject:
Biology
/
Science
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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