Air Quality Changes during the COVID-19 Lockdown in an Industrial City in North China: Post-Pandemic Proposals for Air Quality Improvement

Hongya Niu, Chongchong Zhang, Wei Hu (), Tafeng Hu, Chunmiao Wu, Sihao Hu, Luis F. O. Silva, Nana Gao, Xiaolei Bao and Jingsen Fan
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Hongya Niu: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
Chongchong Zhang: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
Wei Hu: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Tafeng Hu: Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China
Chunmiao Wu: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
Sihao Hu: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
Luis F. O. Silva: Department of Civil and Environmental, Universidad de la Costa, Calle 58 #55-66, Barranquilla 080002, Atlántico, Colombia
Nana Gao: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
Xiaolei Bao: Hebei Chemical & Pharmaceutical College, Shijiazhuang 050026, China
Jingsen Fan: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-19

Abstract: To better understand the changes in air pollutants in an industrial city, Handan, North China, during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the air quality and meteorological conditions were recorded from 1 January to 3 March 2020 and the corresponding period in 2019. Compared to the corresponding period in 2019, the largest reduction in PM 2.5–10 , PM 2.5 , NO 2 and CO occurred during the COVID-19 lockdown period. PM 2.5–10 displayed the highest reduction (66.6%), followed by NO 2 (58.4%) and PM 2.5 (50.1%), while O 3 increased by 13.9%. Similarly, compared with the pre-COVID-19 period, NO 2 significantly decreased by 66.1% during the COVID-19 lockdown, followed by PM 2.5–10 (45.9%) and PM 2.5 (42.4%), while O 3 increased significantly (126%). Among the different functional areas, PM 2.5 and PM 2.5–10 dropped the most in the commercial area during the COVID-19 lockdown. NO 2 and SO 2 decreased the most in the traffic and residential areas, respectively, while NO 2 increased only in the township and SO 2 increased the most in the industrial area. O 3 increased in all functional areas to different extents. Potential source contribution function analysis indicated that not only the local air pollution lessened, but also long-distance or inter-regional transport contributed much less to heavy pollution during the lockdown period. These results indicate that the COVID-19 lockdown measures led to significantly reduced PM and NO 2 but increased O 3 , highlighting the importance of the synergetic control of PM 2.5 and O 3 , as well as regional joint prevention and the control of air pollution. Moreover, it is necessary to formulate air pollution control measures according to functional areas on a city scale.

Keywords: COVID-19 lockdown; industrial city; air quality; potential source contribution function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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