The lock-down effects of COVID-19 on the air pollution indices in Iran and its neighbors

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 restrictions have a lot of various peripheral negative and positive effects, like economic shocks and decreasing air pollution, respectively. Many studies showed NO2 reduction in most parts of the world. METHODS: Iran and its land and maritime neighbors have about 7.4% of the world population and 6.3% and 5.8% of World COVID-19 cases and deaths, respectively. The air pollution indices of them such as CH(4) (Methane), CO_1 (CO), H(2)O (Water), HCHO (Tropospheric Atmospheric Formaldehyde), NO(2) (Nitrogen oxides), O(3) (ozone), SO(2) (Sulfur Dioxide), UVAI_AAI [UV Aerosol Index (UVAI)/Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI)] are studied from the First quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2021 with Copernicus Sentinel 5 Precursor (S5P) satellite data set from Google Earth Engine. The outliers are detected based on the depth functions. We use a two-sample t test, Wilcoxon test, and interval-wise testing for functional data to control the familywise error rate. RESULT: The adjusted p value comparison between Q2 of 2019 and Q2 of 2020 in NO(2) for almost all countries is statistically significant except Iraq, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait. But, the CO and HCHO are not statistically significant in any country. Although CH(4), O(3), and UVAI_AAI are statistically significant for some countries. In the Q2 comparison for NO(2) between 2020 and 2021, only Iran, Armenia, Turkey, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are statistically significant. However, Ch(4) is statistically significant for all countries except Azerbaijan. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison with and without adjusted p values declares the decreases in some air pollution in these countries. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40808-022-01528-x.