Cargando…

The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

The preventive and cautionary measures taken by the UAE and Abu Dhabi governments to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and promote social distancing have led to a reduction of mobility and a modification of economic and social activities. This paper provides statistical analysi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Teixidó, Oriol, Tobías, Aurelio, Massagué, Jordi, Mohamed, Ruqaya, Ekaabi, Rashed, Hamed, Hussein I., Perry, Richard, Querol, Xavier, Al Hosani, Shaikha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8019479/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33841587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-021-01000-2
_version_ 1783674382545059840
author Teixidó, Oriol
Tobías, Aurelio
Massagué, Jordi
Mohamed, Ruqaya
Ekaabi, Rashed
Hamed, Hussein I.
Perry, Richard
Querol, Xavier
Al Hosani, Shaikha
author_facet Teixidó, Oriol
Tobías, Aurelio
Massagué, Jordi
Mohamed, Ruqaya
Ekaabi, Rashed
Hamed, Hussein I.
Perry, Richard
Querol, Xavier
Al Hosani, Shaikha
author_sort Teixidó, Oriol
collection PubMed
description The preventive and cautionary measures taken by the UAE and Abu Dhabi governments to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and promote social distancing have led to a reduction of mobility and a modification of economic and social activities. This paper provides statistical analysis of the air quality data monitored by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) during the first 10 months of 2020, comparing the different stages of the preventive measures. Ground monitoring data is compared with satellite images and mobility indicators. The study shows a drastic decrease during lockdown in the concentration of the gaseous pollutants analysed (NO(2), SO(2), CO, and C(6)H(6)) that aligns with the results reported in other international cities and metropolitan areas. However, particulate matter (PM(10) and PM(2.5)) averaged concentrations followed a markedly different trend from the gaseous pollutants, indicating a larger influence from natural events (sand and dust storms) and other anthropogenic sources. The ozone (O(3)) levels increased during the lockdown, showing the complexity of O(3) formation. The end of lockdown led to an increase of the mobility and the air pollution; however, air pollutant concentrations remained in lower levels than during the same period of 2019. The results in this study show the large impact of human activities on the quality of air and present an opportunity for policymakers and decision-makers to design stimulus packages to overcome the economic slow-down, with strategies to accelerate the transition to resilient, low-emission economies and societies more connected to the nature that protect human health and the environment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11869-021-01000-2.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8019479
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Springer Netherlands
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-80194792021-04-06 The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) Teixidó, Oriol Tobías, Aurelio Massagué, Jordi Mohamed, Ruqaya Ekaabi, Rashed Hamed, Hussein I. Perry, Richard Querol, Xavier Al Hosani, Shaikha Air Qual Atmos Health Article The preventive and cautionary measures taken by the UAE and Abu Dhabi governments to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and promote social distancing have led to a reduction of mobility and a modification of economic and social activities. This paper provides statistical analysis of the air quality data monitored by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) during the first 10 months of 2020, comparing the different stages of the preventive measures. Ground monitoring data is compared with satellite images and mobility indicators. The study shows a drastic decrease during lockdown in the concentration of the gaseous pollutants analysed (NO(2), SO(2), CO, and C(6)H(6)) that aligns with the results reported in other international cities and metropolitan areas. However, particulate matter (PM(10) and PM(2.5)) averaged concentrations followed a markedly different trend from the gaseous pollutants, indicating a larger influence from natural events (sand and dust storms) and other anthropogenic sources. The ozone (O(3)) levels increased during the lockdown, showing the complexity of O(3) formation. The end of lockdown led to an increase of the mobility and the air pollution; however, air pollutant concentrations remained in lower levels than during the same period of 2019. The results in this study show the large impact of human activities on the quality of air and present an opportunity for policymakers and decision-makers to design stimulus packages to overcome the economic slow-down, with strategies to accelerate the transition to resilient, low-emission economies and societies more connected to the nature that protect human health and the environment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11869-021-01000-2. Springer Netherlands 2021-04-04 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8019479/ /pubmed/33841587 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-021-01000-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Teixidó, Oriol
Tobías, Aurelio
Massagué, Jordi
Mohamed, Ruqaya
Ekaabi, Rashed
Hamed, Hussein I.
Perry, Richard
Querol, Xavier
Al Hosani, Shaikha
The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title_full The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title_fullStr The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title_full_unstemmed The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title_short The influence of COVID-19 preventive measures on the air quality in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
title_sort influence of covid-19 preventive measures on the air quality in abu dhabi (united arab emirates)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8019479/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33841587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-021-01000-2
work_keys_str_mv AT teixidooriol theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT tobiasaurelio theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT massaguejordi theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT mohamedruqaya theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT ekaabirashed theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT hamedhusseini theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT perryrichard theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT querolxavier theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT alhosanishaikha theinfluenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT teixidooriol influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT tobiasaurelio influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT massaguejordi influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT mohamedruqaya influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT ekaabirashed influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT hamedhusseini influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT perryrichard influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT querolxavier influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates
AT alhosanishaikha influenceofcovid19preventivemeasuresontheairqualityinabudhabiunitedarabemirates