The effect of COVID-19 restrictions on atmospheric new particle formation in Beijing
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
; 22(18):12207-12220, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-2040264
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the dramatic reduction of anthropogenic emissions provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of reduced anthropogenic activity and primary emissions on atmospheric chemical processes and the consequent formation of secondary pollutants. Here, we utilize comprehensive observations to examine the response of atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) to the changes in the atmospheric chemical cocktail. We find that the main clustering process was unaffected by the drastically reduced traffic emissions, and the formation rate of 1.5 nm particles remained unaltered. However, particle survival probability was enhanced due to an increased particle growth rate (GR) during the lockdown period, explaining the enhanced NPF activity in earlier studies. For GR at 1.5–3 nm, sulfuric acid (SA) was the main contributor at high temperatures, whilst there were unaccounted contributing vapors at low temperatures. For GR at 3–7 and 7–15 nm, oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) played a major role. Surprisingly, OOM composition and volatility were insensitive to the large change of atmospheric NOx concentration;instead the associated high particle growth rates and high OOM concentration during the lockdown period were mostly caused by the enhanced atmospheric oxidative capacity. Overall, our findings suggest a limited role of traffic emissions in NPF.
Meteorology; Laboratories; Growth rate; Chemical reactions; Vapors; Vehicle emissions; High temperature; COVID-19; Molecules; Low temperature; Traffic congestion; Traffic capacity; Particle formation; Organic chemistry; Oxides; Clustering; Traffic; Sulfuric acid; Probability theory; Survival; Nitrogen compounds; Coronaviruses; Pollution; Pollutants; Disease transmission; Volatile organic compounds--VOCs; Humidity; Investigations; Anthropogenic factors; Emissions; Calibration; Sulfur; Sulphuric acid; Beijing China; China
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Language:
English
Journal:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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