Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021
Research article
 | 
18 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 18 Mar 2021

COVID-19 lockdowns highlight a risk of increasing ozone pollution in European urban areas

Stuart K. Grange, James D. Lee, Will S. Drysdale, Alastair C. Lewis, Christoph Hueglin, Lukas Emmenegger, and David C. Carslaw

Related authors

The ZiCOS-M CO2 sensor network: measurement performance and CO2 variability across Zürich
Stuart K. Grange, Pascal Rubli, Andrea Fischer, Dominik Brunner, Christoph Hueglin, and Lukas Emmenegger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2925,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2925, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Why is ozone in South Korea and the Seoul metropolitan area so high and increasing?
Nadia K. Colombi, Daniel J. Jacob, Laura Hyesung Yang, Shixian Zhai, Viral Shah, Stuart K. Grange, Robert M. Yantosca, Soontae Kim, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4031–4044, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023, 2023
Short summary
Linking Switzerland's PM10 and PM2.5 oxidative potential (OP) with emission sources
Stuart K. Grange, Gaëlle Uzu, Samuël Weber, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, and Christoph Hueglin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7029–7050, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7029-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7029-2022, 2022
Short summary
Cellulose in atmospheric particulate matter at rural and urban sites across France and Switzerland
Adam Brighty, Véronique Jacob, Gaëlle Uzu, Lucille Borlaza, Sébastien Conil, Christoph Hueglin, Stuart K. Grange, Olivier Favez, Cécile Trébuchon, and Jean-Luc Jaffrezo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6021–6043, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6021-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6021-2022, 2022
Short summary
Temporal and spatial analysis of ozone concentrations in Europe based on timescale decomposition and a multi-clustering approach
Eirini Boleti, Christoph Hueglin, Stuart K. Grange, André S. H. Prévôt, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9051–9066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9051-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9051-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Tracing the origins of stratospheric ozone intrusions: direct vs. indirect pathways and their impacts on Central and Eastern China in spring–summer 2019
Kai Meng, Tianliang Zhao, Yongqing Bai, Ming Wu, Le Cao, Xuewei Hou, Yuehan Luo, and Yongcheng Jiang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12623–12642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12623-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12623-2024, 2024
Short summary
Flow-dependent observation errors for greenhouse gas inversions in an ensemble Kalman smoother
Michael Steiner, Luca Cantarello, Stephan Henne, and Dominik Brunner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12447–12463, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12447-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12447-2024, 2024
Short summary
Observational and model evidence for a prominent stratospheric influence on variability in tropospheric nitrous oxide
Cynthia D. Nevison, Qing Liang, Paul A. Newman, Britton B. Stephens, Geoff Dutton, Xin Lan, Roisin Commane, Yenny Gonzalez, and Eric Kort
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10513–10529, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10513-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10513-2024, 2024
Short summary
Estimation of Canada's methane emissions: inverse modelling analysis using the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) measurement network
Misa Ishizawa, Douglas Chan, Doug Worthy, Elton Chan, Felix Vogel, Joe R. Melton, and Vivek K. Arora
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10013–10038, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10013-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10013-2024, 2024
Short summary
Spatiotemporal source apportionment of ozone pollution over the Greater Bay Area
Yiang Chen, Xingcheng Lu, and Jimmy C. H. Fung
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8847–8864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8847-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8847-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

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. a
BBC: Coronavirus: Europe now epicentre of the pandemic, says WHO, available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51876784, last access: 13 March 2020. a
Breiman, L.: Random Forests, Mach. Learn., 45, 5–32, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324, 2001. a
Carslaw, D.: Blog update on COVID-19 and changes in air pollution, available at: https://ee.ricardo.com/news/blog-update-on-covid-19-and-changes-in-air-pollution (last access: 1 March 2021), 2020. a
Carslaw, D. C., Murrells, T. P., Andersson, J., and Keenan, M.: Have vehicle emissions of primary NO2 peaked?, Faraday Discuss., 189, 439–454, https://doi.org/10.1039/C5FD00162E, 2016. a, b
Download
Short summary
The changes in mobility across Europe due to the COVID-19 lockdowns had consequences for air quality. We compare what was experienced to estimates of "what would have been" without the lockdowns. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an important vehicle-sourced pollutant, decreased by a third. However, ozone (O3) increased in response to lower NO2. Because NO2 is decreasing over time, increases in O3 can be expected in European urban areas and will require management to avoid future negative outcomes.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint