Acoustic Noise in Moscow during the Covid-19 Quarantine Period in 2020

This paper addresses the results of instrumental observation of acoustic oscillations in the atmosphere above the city of Moscow during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Instrumental observations made by the Geophysical Monitoring Center (GMC) at the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics (IGD), Russian Academy of Sciences, show that the quarantine-related decrease in production activity caused significant changes in the amplitude and spectral characteristics of acoustic noise above the city, as compared to the long-term averages. During the quarantine period, the amplitude of the main spectral components and the average amplitude of acoustic noise decreased by more than two times. The diurnal variation of the amplitude of noise caused by production activities in the daytime was much less evident. Our findings can be useful in determining the characteristics of technogenic noise sources and assessing its contribution to the total acoustic noise level of the city.