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Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic

With the spread of the COVID-19 virus globally, cities worldwide have implemented unprecedented social distancing policies to mitigate infection rates. Many studies have demonstrated that improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, questions remai...

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Autores principales: Park, Chaerin, Jeong, Sujong, Shin, Yong-seung, Cha, Yeong-seop, Lee, Ho-chan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8378890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456601
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2021.101176
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author Park, Chaerin
Jeong, Sujong
Shin, Yong-seung
Cha, Yeong-seop
Lee, Ho-chan
author_facet Park, Chaerin
Jeong, Sujong
Shin, Yong-seung
Cha, Yeong-seop
Lee, Ho-chan
author_sort Park, Chaerin
collection PubMed
description With the spread of the COVID-19 virus globally, cities worldwide have implemented unprecedented social distancing policies to mitigate infection rates. Many studies have demonstrated that improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, questions remain regarding changes in atmospheric CO(2) concentrations because of the complex cycles involving the interaction of CO(2) with the natural environment. In this study, we compared the changes in urban CO(2) enhancement (△CO(2)) reflecting the contribution of local CO(2) emissions to the atmospheric CO(2) in urban areas, according to the intensity of social distancing policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Seoul, South Korea. We used data from three CO(2) ground observation sites in the central area of Seoul and outside the urban area of Seoul. By comparing the urban CO(2) concentration in Seoul with that of the background area using two different methods, considering both vertical and horizontal differences in CO(2) concentration, we quantified the △CO(2) of the pre-COVID-19 period and two COVID-19 periods, during which intensive social distancing policies with different intensities were implemented (Level 1, Level 2.5). During the pre-COVID-19 period, the average △CO(2) calculated using the two methods was 24.82 ppm, and it decreased significantly to 16.42 and 14.36 ppm during the Level 1 and Level 2.5 periods, respectively. In addition, the urban contribution of Seoul to atmospheric CO(2) concentration decreased from 5.27% during the pre-COVID-19 period to 3.54% and 3.19% during the Level 1 and Level 2.5 periods, respectively. The results indicate that the social distancing policies implemented in Seoul resulted in reduced local CO(2) emissions, leading to a reduction in atmospheric CO(2) concentration. Interestingly, it also shows that the extent of atmospheric CO(2) concentration reduction can be greatly affected by the intensity of policies. Our study suggests that changes in human activity could reduce the urban direct contribution to the background CO(2) concentration helping to further mitigate climate change.
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spelling pubmed-83788902021-08-23 Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic Park, Chaerin Jeong, Sujong Shin, Yong-seung Cha, Yeong-seop Lee, Ho-chan Atmos Pollut Res Article With the spread of the COVID-19 virus globally, cities worldwide have implemented unprecedented social distancing policies to mitigate infection rates. Many studies have demonstrated that improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, questions remain regarding changes in atmospheric CO(2) concentrations because of the complex cycles involving the interaction of CO(2) with the natural environment. In this study, we compared the changes in urban CO(2) enhancement (△CO(2)) reflecting the contribution of local CO(2) emissions to the atmospheric CO(2) in urban areas, according to the intensity of social distancing policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Seoul, South Korea. We used data from three CO(2) ground observation sites in the central area of Seoul and outside the urban area of Seoul. By comparing the urban CO(2) concentration in Seoul with that of the background area using two different methods, considering both vertical and horizontal differences in CO(2) concentration, we quantified the △CO(2) of the pre-COVID-19 period and two COVID-19 periods, during which intensive social distancing policies with different intensities were implemented (Level 1, Level 2.5). During the pre-COVID-19 period, the average △CO(2) calculated using the two methods was 24.82 ppm, and it decreased significantly to 16.42 and 14.36 ppm during the Level 1 and Level 2.5 periods, respectively. In addition, the urban contribution of Seoul to atmospheric CO(2) concentration decreased from 5.27% during the pre-COVID-19 period to 3.54% and 3.19% during the Level 1 and Level 2.5 periods, respectively. The results indicate that the social distancing policies implemented in Seoul resulted in reduced local CO(2) emissions, leading to a reduction in atmospheric CO(2) concentration. Interestingly, it also shows that the extent of atmospheric CO(2) concentration reduction can be greatly affected by the intensity of policies. Our study suggests that changes in human activity could reduce the urban direct contribution to the background CO(2) concentration helping to further mitigate climate change. Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. 2021-09 2021-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8378890/ /pubmed/34456601 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2021.101176 Text en © 2021 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Park, Chaerin
Jeong, Sujong
Shin, Yong-seung
Cha, Yeong-seop
Lee, Ho-chan
Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Reduction in urban atmospheric CO(2) enhancement in Seoul, South Korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort reduction in urban atmospheric co(2) enhancement in seoul, south korea, resulting from social distancing policies during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8378890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456601
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2021.101176
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