Impact on Air Quality of the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Urban Area of Palermo (Italy)

Marcello Vultaggio, Daniela Varrica and Maria Grazia Alaimo
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Marcello Vultaggio: Risorse Ambiente Palermo (RAP), Piazzetta B. Cairoli, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Daniela Varrica: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), via Archirafi 22, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Maria Grazia Alaimo: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), via Archirafi 22, 90123 Palermo, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-12

Abstract: At the end of 2019, the first cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China. Thereafter, the number of infected people increased rapidly, and the outbreak turned into a national crisis, with infected individuals all over the country. The COVID-19 global pandemic produced extreme changes in human behavior that affected air quality. Human mobility and production activities decreased significantly, and many regions recorded significant reductions in air pollution. The goal of our investigation was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the concentrations of the main air pollutants in the urban area of Palermo (Italy). In this study, the trends in the average concentrations of CO, NO 2 , O 3 , and PM 10 in the air from 1 January 2020 to 31 July 2020 were compared with the corresponding average values detected at the same monitoring stations in Palermo during the previous five years (2015–2019). During the lockdown period (10 March–30 April), we observed a decrease in the concentrations of CO, NO 2 , and particulate matter (PM) 10 , calculated to be about 51%, 50%, and 45%, respectively. This confirms that air pollution in an urban area is predominantly linked to vehicular traffic.

Keywords: COVID-19; air quality; lockdown; CO–NO 2 –O 3 –PM 10; urban environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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