Air pollutants behavior during and after lockdown in a medium-sized city

Authors

  • Ronan Adler Tavella Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
  • Lucas da Silva Salimene Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
  • Sabrina Morales Ulguim Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
  • Romulo Reginato Gabriel Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
  • Flavio Manoel Rodrigues da Silva Júnior Universidade Federal do Rio Grande http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7344-4679

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14295/vittalle.v33i3.13663

Keywords:

Poluição do ar, pandemias, SARS-Cov-2, Ozônio, Brasil

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic is undoubtedly the greatest public health problem of the century, to date. Among the actions sanctioned by governments to curb the spread of the virus are blocking and confinement measures, known as lockdown. Several locations around the world have shown an improvement in air quality due to reduced urban mobility during periods of lockdown. However, results in Brazil are still scarce. The aim of the study was to evaluate the behavior of air pollutants in a short-term lockdown (64 hours) in the city of Pelotas, RS. The concentrations of O3, CO, PM2.5 NO2 and SO2 were measured during and after (up to 35h) the lockdown using satellite data and the average concentrations of the previous seven days were compared. With the exception of NO2, all pollutants were reduced during the lockdown period and levels maintained even 35 hours after its end. The reduction in ozone levels during the lockdown is widely questioned worldwide, and seems to be related to less populated cities and with low concentrations of NO2. The study showed that a short period of confinement is sufficient to reduce the levels of pollutants in the air. 

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Published

2021-12-20

How to Cite

Tavella, R. A., Salimene, L. . da S., Ulguim , S. M. ., Gabriel , R. R., & da Silva Júnior, F. M. R. (2021). Air pollutants behavior during and after lockdown in a medium-sized city. VITTALLE - Revista De Ciências Da Saúde, 33(3), 62–67. https://doi.org/10.14295/vittalle.v33i3.13663

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 3 (2021)

Section

Pesquisa

License

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