Lockdown effect: NO2 level reduces sharply in air

In his lecture (through webcast) on “Earth’s Response to COVI-19, Pandemic Lockdown” organized by CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI), here on Wednesday Dr Rajeevan talked about the impact of the lockdown on Earths movement, Air pollution and Weather observation.

It was interesting to note that owing to a significant drop in the earth's ambient seismic noise, smaller magnitude earthquakes could be detected, noteworthy reduction in air pollution levels owing to lack of vehicular traffic, construction activities and industrial shut down etc, conclusive reduction of aircraft observation count.

The NO2 levels in the air have drastically reduced during the lockdown. In short it could be said that the earth was slowly and surely healing. The lockdown has brought un told misery , but it was heartening to hear the positives from the protracted lockdown, he said.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr V M Tiwari, Director of the Institute remarked that to fight this global pandemic, several countries have imposed lock down, which is also leading to some unexpected consequences, like a sudden drop in carbon emissions, reduction in NO2 concertation in atmosphere compared with this time last year.

Now the questions are- will reduction of atmospheric pollutants due to pandemic lock down will allow to quantify how aerosols impact the climate, or whether lock down have a lasting impact on the environment and climate?