COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries
The rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the economy, trade, transport, health care, social services, and other sectors. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, most countries imposed national lockdowns and social distancing policies. This led to reduced industrial, com...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/290 |
| _version_ | 1797395445713993728 |
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| author | Akvilė Feiferytė Skirienė Žaneta Stasiškienė |
| author_facet | Akvilė Feiferytė Skirienė Žaneta Stasiškienė |
| author_sort | Akvilė Feiferytė Skirienė |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the economy, trade, transport, health care, social services, and other sectors. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, most countries imposed national lockdowns and social distancing policies. This led to reduced industrial, commercial, and human activities, followed by lower air pollution emissions, which caused air quality improvement. Air pollution monitoring data from the European Environment Agency (EEA) datasets were used to investigate how lockdown policies affected air quality changes in the period before and during the COVID-19 lockdown, comparing to the same periods in 2018 and 2019, along with an assessment of the Index of Production variation impact to air pollution changes during the pandemic in 2020. Analysis results show that industrial and mobility activities were lower in the period of the lockdown along with the reduced selected pollutant NO<sub>2</sub>, PM<sub>2.5</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub> emissions by approximately 20–40% in 2020. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:34:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-91e034d8feb449b79c6f00714f4a32a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:34:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-91e034d8feb449b79c6f00714f4a32a72023-12-11T18:16:12ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332021-02-0112329010.3390/atmos12030290COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European CountriesAkvilė Feiferytė Skirienė0Žaneta Stasiškienė1Institute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino str. 50, 44239 Kaunas, LithuaniaInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino str. 50, 44239 Kaunas, LithuaniaThe rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the economy, trade, transport, health care, social services, and other sectors. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, most countries imposed national lockdowns and social distancing policies. This led to reduced industrial, commercial, and human activities, followed by lower air pollution emissions, which caused air quality improvement. Air pollution monitoring data from the European Environment Agency (EEA) datasets were used to investigate how lockdown policies affected air quality changes in the period before and during the COVID-19 lockdown, comparing to the same periods in 2018 and 2019, along with an assessment of the Index of Production variation impact to air pollution changes during the pandemic in 2020. Analysis results show that industrial and mobility activities were lower in the period of the lockdown along with the reduced selected pollutant NO<sub>2</sub>, PM<sub>2.5</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub> emissions by approximately 20–40% in 2020.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/290air quality monitoringCOVID-19air pollution |
| spellingShingle | Akvilė Feiferytė Skirienė Žaneta Stasiškienė COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries Atmosphere air quality monitoring COVID-19 air pollution |
| title | COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries |
| title_full | COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries |
| title_short | COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Measuring Pandemic Impact to Air Quality in Five European Countries |
| title_sort | covid 19 and air pollution measuring pandemic impact to air quality in five european countries |
| topic | air quality monitoring COVID-19 air pollution |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/290 |
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