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Effect Of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Induced Lockdown On The Aerosol Loading Over The Coastal State, Goa


Affiliations
1 School of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403 206, India
 

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic resulted in India imposing a nationwide lockdown on 22 March 2020, bringing all human activities to a complete halt. The current study focuses on the effect of lockdown on the abundance of atmospheric aerosols over Goa. The study focused on pre-lockdown, lockdown and period corresponding to lockdown in 2019. The AOD spectra depicted a decrease in the anthropogenically derived fine mode aerosols during the lockdown compared to the pre-lockdown period. Mean AOD500 for prelockdown and lockdown periods were 0.43 ± 0.19 and 0.53 ± 0.11 respectively. The higher AOD500 during lockdown was due to an increase in naturally derived coarse mode aerosols, which is further confirmed with the lower Ångström exponent values (1.04 ± 0.11). The mean black carbon mass concentration for the respective periods were 1990.45 ± 470.87 ng m–3 and 1109.71 ± 218.33 ng m–3, and the mean atmospheric forcing during the respective periods were 25.13 ± 5.72 W m–2, 27.31 ± 3.71 W m–2 and 30.81 ± 5.59 W m–2 respectively.

Keywords

Aerosol Optical Depth, Radiative Forcing, SARS-CoV-2.
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  • Effect Of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Induced Lockdown On The Aerosol Loading Over The Coastal State, Goa

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Authors

Atiba A. Shaikh
School of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403 206, India
Avirup Sen
School of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403 206, India
Harilal B. Menon
School of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403 206, India

Abstract


The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic resulted in India imposing a nationwide lockdown on 22 March 2020, bringing all human activities to a complete halt. The current study focuses on the effect of lockdown on the abundance of atmospheric aerosols over Goa. The study focused on pre-lockdown, lockdown and period corresponding to lockdown in 2019. The AOD spectra depicted a decrease in the anthropogenically derived fine mode aerosols during the lockdown compared to the pre-lockdown period. Mean AOD500 for prelockdown and lockdown periods were 0.43 ± 0.19 and 0.53 ± 0.11 respectively. The higher AOD500 during lockdown was due to an increase in naturally derived coarse mode aerosols, which is further confirmed with the lower Ångström exponent values (1.04 ± 0.11). The mean black carbon mass concentration for the respective periods were 1990.45 ± 470.87 ng m–3 and 1109.71 ± 218.33 ng m–3, and the mean atmospheric forcing during the respective periods were 25.13 ± 5.72 W m–2, 27.31 ± 3.71 W m–2 and 30.81 ± 5.59 W m–2 respectively.

Keywords


Aerosol Optical Depth, Radiative Forcing, SARS-CoV-2.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv120%2Fi2%2F360-367