Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3091-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3091-2021
Research article
 | 
02 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 02 Mar 2021

Decoupling of urban CO2 and air pollutant emission reductions during the European SARS-CoV-2 lockdown

Christian Lamprecht, Martin Graus, Marcus Striednig, Michael Stichaner, and Thomas Karl

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Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
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Cited articles

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Anenberg, S. C., Miller, J., Minjares, R., Du, L., Henze, D. K., Lacey, F., Malley, C. S., Emberson, L., Franco, V., Klimont, Z., and Heyes, C.: Impacts and mitigation of excess diesel-related NOx emissions in 11 major vehicle markets, Nature, 545, 467–471, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22086, 2017. 
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Baldocchi, D. D., Hincks, B. B., and Meyers, T. P.: Measuring Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchanges of Biologically Related Gases with Micrometeorological Methods, Ecology, 69, 1331–1340, https://doi.org/10.2307/1941631, 1988. 
Bao, R. and Zhang, A.: Does lockdown reduce air pollution? Evidence from 44 cities in northern China, Sci. Total Environ., 731, 139052, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139052, 2020. 
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The first European SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) wave and associated lockdown provided a unique sensitivity experiment to study air pollution. We find significantly different emission trajectories between classical air pollution and climate gases (e.g., carbon dioxide). The analysis suggests that European policies, shifting residential, public, and commercial energy demand towards cleaner combustion, have helped to improve air quality more than expected.
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