Examining the impact of lockdown (due to COVID-19) on ambient aerosols (PM(2.5)): A study on Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) Cities, India

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all the aspects of environment. The numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing across the globe. In many countries lockdown has been imposed at local, regional as well as national level to combat with this global pandemic that caused the improvement of air quality. In India also lockdown was imposed on 25th March, 2020 and it was further extended in different phases. The lockdown due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has showed substantial reduction of PM(2.5) concentrations across the cities of India. The present study aims to assess concentration of PM(2.5) across 12 cities located in different spatial segments Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The result showed that there was substantial decrease of PM(2.5) concentrations across the cities located in IGP after implementation of lockdown. Before 30 days of lockdown, average PM(2.5) across cities was 65.77 µg/m(3) that reached to 42.72 µg/m(3) during lockdown periods (decreased by 35%). Maximum decrease of PM(2.5) concentrations has been documented in Lower Gangetic Plain (LGP) cities (57%) followed by Middle Gangetic Plain (MGP) cities (34%) and Upper Gangetic Plain (UGP) cities (27%) respectively. Among all the cities of IGP, maximum decrease of PM(2.5) concentrations was recorded in Kolkata (64%) (LGP) followed by Muzaffarpur (53%) (MGP), Asansol (51%) (LGP), Patna (43%) (MGP) and Varanasi (33%) (MGP).Therefore, this study has an immense potentiality to understand the impact of lockdown on a physical region (Ganga River Basin) and it may be also helpful for planners and policy makers to implement effective measures at regional level to control air pollution.