IMPACT OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS ON AEROSOLS IN INDIA DURING 2020

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2021

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Aerosols can affect the Earth’s radiation balance, visibility, and human health. They play an important role in the natural environment and human society. At the end of 2019, the appearance of COVID-19 and the following pandemic caused worldwide impacts on society and resulted in a noticeable change in air quality over India. This study provides a comparison between the monthly climatological mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) from 2000 to 2020 and the monthly average AOD in 2020. Results show daily AOD values are significantly reduced after lockdowns were implemented in India. After reopening AOD increased back to climatological levels suggesting the decrease was the result of the COVID-19 lockdowns. The anomalies of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), and Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) in 2020 indicate that precipitation and ENSO do not influence the reduction of AOD. The trends of daily PM10 and PM2.5 in Mumbai and Delhi are similar to the trends seen in daily AOD values over all of India. The combined satellite and station data lend credibility to the observed AOD reduction being related to the lockdown. Although COVID-19 is harmful to human health, its appearance temporarily reduced aerosol loading and thus likely improved human health in India during the lockdown.

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Atmospheric sciences, Aerosol Optical Depth, Aerosols Impact, COVID19

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62 pages

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