The recent Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic can’t certainly be seen as a good thing for humanity, but there’s a silver lining to it, it has positively affected the nature and environmental factors.
The experts, however, agree that it still too early to talk about impact of COVID-19 on nature, but there is some credible evidence to claim that this pandemic turned out to be a good thing for the air that we breathe.
Namely, NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) have recently published a tropospheric map image with data on levels of NO2 (nitrogen-dioxide) across China. That image shows data on NO2 density (µmol/m2) in the time period between 1-20th of January 2020 (before the quarantine) and 10-25th of February (during the quarantine).
Fig.1. NASA satellite imagery (mean tropospheric NO2 density over China)
As one can see, drop-off scale is so “dramatic” to say the least, because it is visible over such a wide area for a specific event. Such large scale of NO2 decrease in the atmosphere has never been witnessed before.
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) belongs to a highly reactive group of gases called nitrogen oxides (NOx). This gas is a serious air pollutant and a strong warming chemical and it is of great concern for human health and the environment. NO2 reacts with other chemicals suspended in the atmosphere forming particulate matter and ozone.
The data for the image above were collected by the European Space Agency (ESA) satellite Copernicus Sentinel-5 and their instrument onboard known as TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument). This satellite was launched on 13th of October 2017, and it’s planned for a mission of seven years. On the other side, NASA collected data from its AURA satellite and its OMI (Ozone Monitoring) Instrument. Both agencies made similar measurements and conclusions.
What caused such a decline in air-pollution in China?
Well, first of all Chinese government imposed severe measures in order to contain the virus. China has closed most of the factories in parts of the country hit by the Coronavirus, or left some of them operational but at low capacity, imposed travel restrictions and curfews, which lowered the number of automobiles, trucks and public transportation vehicles involved in traffic. All of those factors contributed to less pollutants in the atmosphere and overall improvement of air-quality situation.
Even in Europe and the United States, there’s been an improvement of general air quality situation in the last 20 days, all due to traffic travel restrictions and suspension of industrial operations.
Health effects
High concentration of NO2 in the air we breathe can easily aggravate the human respiratory system. Exposures to NO2 can lead to respiratory symptoms such as coughing, difficult breathing or breathlessness, and eventually lead to lung inflammation or development of chronic respiratory diseases. Also, asthma can be easily developed if one would be exposed excessively to elevated concentrations of NO2, or such concentrations could potentially increase predisposition to respiratory infections. Anyone could be affected, but elderly and the children are at greater risk.
Fig.2. NO2 adverse health effects (source: Environment Protection Authority of Victoria)
Nevertheless, as soon as the threat of coronavirus diminishes, we can expect an immediate jumpstart of the economy of the world top powers such as USA, China, Russia etc.
As soon as the coronavirus crisis is over, all those key players will boosts their economies with credits and financial incentives, starting from small-scale manufacturing over to heavy industries, and this would have as a result an increase of pollutants and carbon emissions in the atmosphere in the second half of the year.
Coronavirus COVID-19 is certainly an event that has shaken the foundation of our society and reshaped our believes, our relation with the outside world, and with each other. What is going to happen in the months to come remains unknown, and to some extent depends on all of us and our ability to contain the virus through self-discipline and adaptation to new circumstances.
But one thing is for sure, the humanity is yet to experience the indirect effects of this virus on our health and lifestyle, religion, family ties, medicine and our environment.
