Large reductions in satellite-derived and modelled European lower-tropospheric ozone during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022)
<p>Activity restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic caused large-scale reductions in ozone (O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span>) precursor emissions, which in turn substantially reduced the abundance of tropospheric O<span class="inline...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| Online Access: | https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/25/4391/2025/acp-25-4391-2025.pdf |
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| Summary: | <p>Activity restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic caused large-scale reductions in ozone (O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span>) precursor emissions, which in turn substantially reduced the abundance of tropospheric O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> in the Northern Hemisphere. Satellite records of lower-tropospheric column O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> (0–6 km) from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) highlight these large reductions in O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> during the COVID-19 period (2020), which persisted into 2021 and 2022. The European domain average O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> reduction ranged between 2.0 and 3.0 DU (where DU denotes Dobson units) (11.0 %–14.6 %). These satellite results were supported by the TOMCAT chemical transport model (CTM) through several model sensitivity experiments to account for changes in emissions and the impact of the meteorological conditions in 2020. Here, the business-as-usual (BAU) emissions were scaled by activity data (i.e. anonymized mobility data from big tech companies) to account for the reduction in O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> precursor emissions. The model simulated large O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> reductions (2.0–3.0 DU), similar to the satellite records, where approximately 66 % and 34 % of the O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> loss can be explained by emission changes and meteorological conditions, respectively. Our results also show that the reduced flux of stratospheric O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> into the troposphere accounted for a substantial component of the meteorological signal in the overall lower-tropospheric O<span class="inline-formula"><sub>3</sub></span> levels during the COVID-19 period.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |