China’s lockdown measures to minimize further coronavirus infections have created one unexpected benefit — a dramatic improvement to the nation’s air quality.
Satellites operated by NASA and the European Space Agency have detected significant drops of major airborne pollutants above vast swathes of the country.
Before-and-after images show how nitrogen dioxide levels plummeted in February compared to pre-lockdown January of this year.
Nitrogen dioxide is a noxious gas emitted by factories, motor vehicles, and fossil-fuel-powered electricity generation stations.
The data were collected by ESA’s Sentinel-5 satellite. Ozone measurements from NASA’s Aura spacecraft showed similar results.
NASA scientists first detected the decline of pollutants near Wuhan in Hubei province. A food market in the city is believed to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has since spread to more than 50 countries.
“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Scientists have previously observed drops in nitrogen dioxide levels during the global financial crisis, and more regionally, during 2008’s Beijing Olympics.
Researchers say China’s pollutant levels normally decline in February as factories pause for Lunar New Year celebrations when the world’s largest annual mass migration occurs.
But the usual rebound in pollutant levels did not occur last month, helping to illustrate the vast scale of shutdowns in the world’s second-biggest economy.
“This year, the reduction rate is more significant than in past years and it has lasted longer,” Liu said. “I am not surprised because many cities nationwide have taken measures to minimize spread of the virus.”
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What it really shows is the difference between a command-and-control economy like Communist China vs. an economy run by businesses in democratic countries like the US. We are wealthy enough that we demand clean air and water so our government have required businesses to clean the air and water with pollution controls. There’s no such mechanism in China just as there wasn’t in USSR and eastern Europe, both areas that had horrible pollution.
….Or do what Canada’s doing. Abuse and neglect industry. Cultivate a services based economy with onerous consumption taxes. Erect wind turbines and clear away the smokestacks. Ontario’s electricity demand is way down. McJobs is a symptom.