Recently, the European Space Agency released a video that showed a decrease in air pollution over China as the nation went into complete lockdown amid coronavirus outbreak.
What’s interesting is that as the quarantine and self-isolation measures have started easing up, the pollution has returned.
The visuals received from Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite shows emissions of nitrogen dioxide that are produced by the combustion of fossil fuels, between December 20 and March 16 over China.
According to the reports from the European Space Agency, there was a drop in the concentrations in January; however, it has increased lately from the beginning of March. The mission manager for ESA, Claus Zehner, said that the concentration of nitrogen dioxide plunged around 40% during the lockdown.
He said that by using detailed computer models to process the satellite observations, they found that there was a reduction of around 20-30% in surface particulate matter across large parts of the country.
Apart from China, Italy also experienced a drop in air pollution between January 1 and March 11, 2020. Claus said that the decrease in nitrogen dioxide emissions over northern Italy was evident.
He is sure that the reduction in emission of nitrogen dioxide is due to the recent lockdown, causing less industrial activities and traffic.
Director of Earth Observation, ESA, Josef Aschbacher said that Copernicus Sentinel-5P is presently the most accurate instrument that can measure air pollution from space.
The United Kingdom is one of the few nations that hasn’t been put on lockdown. However, the government has told 1.5 million high-risk people to stay at home for at least three months.
The government is working with the military to create a regional distribution network that will help people get stuff delivered to their homes while they stay at home.
Moreover, they have stressed the importance of social distancing and self-isolation.
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