COVID-19 lockdowns reduce the Black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of the Asian atmosphere: source apportionment and health hazard evaluation

Balram Ambade (), Tapan Kumar Sankar, Amit Kumar, Alok Sagar Gautam () and Sneha Gautam ()
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Balram Ambade: National Institute of Technology
Tapan Kumar Sankar: National Institute of Technology
Amit Kumar: National Institute of Technology
Alok Sagar Gautam: Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University
Sneha Gautam: Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2021, vol. 23, issue 8, No 54, 12252-12271

Abstract: Abstract The entire world is affected by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is spreading worldwide in a short time. India is one of the countries which is affected most, therefore, the Government of India has implemented several lockdowns in the entire country from April 25, 2020. We studied air pollutants (i.e., PM2.5, Black Carbon (BC), and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) level, and observed significantly sudden reduced. In India, most of the anthropogenic activities completely stopped. Therefore, we studied the levels of BC, PAHs and PM2.5 concentrations, their sources apportion, and health risk assessment during normal days, lockdown (from lockdown 1.0 to lockdown 4.0) and unlock down 1.0 situation at Sakchi, Jamshedpur city. It was observed that lockdowns and unlock down situations BC, PAHs and PM2.5 concentrations were significantly lower than regular days. We applied the advanced air mass back trajectory (AMBT) model to locate airborne particulate matter dispersal from different directions to strengthen the new result. The diagnostic ratio analyses of BC shows that wood burning contribution was too high during the lockdown situations. However, during normal days, the PAHs source profile was dedicated toward biomass, coal burning, and vehicle emission as primary sources of PAHs. During the lockdown period, emission from biomass and coal burning was a significant contributor to PAHs. The summaries of health risk assessment of BC quantified an equal number of passively smoked cigarettes (PSC) for an individual situation was studied. This study focuses on the overall climate impact of pandemic situations. Graphic abstract

Keywords: COVID-19; Black carbon; PAHs; Backward trajectory; Health risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-020-01167-1

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