Coronavirus pandemic leads to huge drop in air pollution

The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down industrial activity and temporarily slashing air pollution levels around the world, satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows.

Pollution levels in China in 2019, left, and 2020. Photograph: Guardian Visuals / ESA satellite data

One expert said the sudden shift represented the “largest scale experiment ever” in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions.

Readings from ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that over the past six weeks, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over cities and industrial clusters in Asia and Europe were markedly lower than in the same period last year.

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Meanwhile, researchers in New York told the BBC that early results showed carbon monoxide mainly from cars had been reduced by nearly 50 per cent in 2020 so far compared with last year.

There has also been a recorded drop in CO2 emissions since measures to try to contain the virus began, according to the UK-based Carbon Brief website.

However, experts have warned that levels of both nitrogen dioxide and CO2 could rise steeply once more as the pandemic abates. How governments choose to kick start their economies again will become all important, they suggest.

source : The guardian

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