Title: | Policy-Related Gains in Urban Air Quality May Be Offset by Increased Emissions in a Warming Climate |
Author(s): | Cao C; Gentner DR; Commane R; Toledo-Crow R; Schiferl LD; Mak JE; |
Address: | "School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, United States. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, United States. Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, United States" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1520-5851 (Electronic) 0013-936X (Print) 0013-936X (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Air quality policies have made substantial gains by reducing pollutant emissions from the transportation sector. In March 2020, New York City's activities were severely curtailed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in 60-90% reductions in human activity. We continuously measured major volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during January-April 2020 and 2021 in Manhattan. Concentrations of many VOCs decreased significantly during the shutdown with variations in daily patterns reflective of human activity perturbations, resulting in a temporary approximately 28% reduction in chemical reactivity. However, the limited effect of these dramatic measures was outweighed by larger increases in VOC-related reactivity during the anomalously warm spring 2021. This emphasizes the diminishing returns from transportation-focused policies alone and the risk of increased temperature-dependent emissions undermining policy-related gains in a warming climate" |
Keywords: | Humans *Air Pollutants/analysis Pandemics *COVID-19/epidemiology *Air Pollution/analysis Seasons *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis Environmental Monitoring Vehicle Emissions/analysis air pollution policy mobile sources urban air quality volatile chemic; |
Notes: | "MedlineCao, Cong Gentner, Drew R Commane, Roisin Toledo-Crow, Ricardo Schiferl, Luke D Mak, John E eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2023/06/16 Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 4; 57(26):9683-9692. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05904. Epub 2023 Jun 16" |