The decline in pollution in Europe observed from space

• The maps taken by satellite and made public by the European Space Agency show, seen from the sky, the impact of confinement on pollution.
• These decreases are at least 30% for carbon dioxide concentrations.
• In Occitania, measurements recorded by the air quality observatory show that this drop has been more than 50% in the last two weeks.

There are the visible effects of confinement, such as the return of birds to cities or the reduction of noise pollution due to automobile traffic reduced to a minimum. And then there are those that we don't really see, but that the most fragile feel.

Since March 17, and the first travel restriction measures to limit the coronavirus pandemic, pollution has dropped drastically. In particular that of nitrogen dioxide, this gas produced by the engines of cars and trucks, industrial activities and thermal power plants.

Satellites observe the fall of air pollution over France, Italy and Spain. In-depth analysis of these 1st maps of Europe since confinement 👉 https://t.co/A9DpMNvMEn
📸 @CopernicusEU #Sentinel 2019-20, treatment @KNMI @esa pic.twitter.com/uLx9pOOAlF

And this drop can be seen from space, as it was the case for China a few weeks ago. The European Space Agency has indeed shown this by publishing maps of Europe, including one focused on France. They were taken by the Sentinel-5P satellite of the Copernicus program.

NO 2 average drop of at least 30%

From its orbit, 800 km above the Earth, it performs daily planetary mapping of atmospheric pollutants. It thus made it possible to compare the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) between March 14 and 25 and the average of March 2019. Whether in Paris, Madrid or Milan, the decrease is at least 30%.

"These images are striking because they illustrate how human activities have an impact on the quality of the air we breathe," said Carole Deniel, manager of the Atmosphere and Climate programs at Cnes, in a press release.

Information which must be correlated with other data. “Calculating changes in concentration and estimating the corresponding pollutant emissions at the level of a very specific area requires taking into account meteorological conditions, the chemistry of the atmosphere using data collected in the field, by other satellites and chemistry-transport models of the atmosphere ”, continues Gaëlle Dufour of the Interuniversity Laboratory of Atmospheric Systems.

Modeling which will be the subject of numerous studies. Scientists can already count on other data, already collected on the floor of cows: measurements made by air quality observatories.

Confirmed by ground measurements

In Occitania, this drop is already more than 50%, indicates Atmo. “The average levels over these two weeks [from March 16 to 29] remain very low with more than 50% drop in nitrogen dioxide concentrations compared to the usual situation. Concentrations near traffic lanes are now even lower than background urban pollution in normal situations, ”specifies the regional observatory.

[# Covid19] Second week of confinement passed: what are the observable trends for #qualityair in Occitania? @Atmo_oc ▶ https://t.co/735akkKsYE pic.twitter.com/mptumtfaQU

Variable decreases depending on the day of the week. Last week, pollution levels were lower at the start of the week, a slight increase was noticeable near road traffic or in the background, during the day on Saturday, and to a lesser extent on Friday compared to the first week of confinement.

However, pollution persists in this region, that of suspended particles. The weather conditions and the heating, which turns even the day during this period of confinement, contribute to it.

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• Cnes
• Satellite
• ESA
• Covid 19
• Containment
• Space
• Pollution
• Planet