Lockdown reduced soot by 41% in SW Europe

“During the first lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic, soot concentrations in the atmosphere of Western and Southern Europe were almost halved.” This is the conclusion reached by the scientists of six German Universities and Research Institutes in their related research.

In order to limit the rapid spread of the coronavirus and fight the pandemic, most European countries reacted in the first half of 2020 with significant restrictions on movement and economic activities. The lockdown reduced the burning of fossil fuels, a major source of soot in the atmosphere, by about a third in early 2020, according to converging research. This is attributed to a 90% reduction in air traffic in Europe and a severe reduction in road traffic.

However, the strict traffic restrictions of 2020 also reduced the amount of soot – harmful to health and burdensome for the climate – in the atmosphere of Western and Southern Europe. The lockdown provided atmospheric researchers at the Max Planck, Leibniz Institutes for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), the Universities of Bremen, Mainz, Leipzig and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) a unique opportunity to precisely quantify atmospheric pollutants in the lower troposphere.

The scientific team that was formed during this period flew with the German HALO research aircraft over large parts of Western and Southern Europe: among others over Germany, the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), Great Britain, the France, Spain, Italy. They identified as such in the framework of the research program BLUE the soot mass and particle number concentrations in the lower troposphere.

The research team then compared the 2020 results with corresponding measurements made as part of the European EMeRGe EU program in July 2017 under “normal” – i.e. before the coronavirus – conditions. The comparison showed a significant improvement in air quality due to the first lockdown imposed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. On average, the amount of soot in the lower troposphere in southern and western Europe decreased by 41%. The scientists arrived at this result with the help of mobility data and data on gasoline consumption during the quarantine. It should be noted that in the decades after the Second World War, emissions of soot in Europe had never decreased so rapidly.

The researchers attribute the large reduction to two main reasons: to the already ongoing efforts to reduce soot emissions in Germany and Europe in general, at a rate that varies between 3-9%, but mainly to limited mobility due to the pandemic, at a rate of 32-38 %. These results reflect, according to scientists, the strong impact of human activities on air quality and the importance of soot as a major air pollutant and climate driver in the Anthropocene, the modern geological era in which the anthropogenic component of climate change is included.

The comparative data were incorporated into a climate model to determine the long-term impact of soot emissions in Europe.

Scientists also conclude that soot near the ground is not only a particularly harmful part of suspended particles for human health, but also contributes to global warming, because due to their dark surface they heat up and emit heat. However, unlike long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, soot is short-lived, remaining in the atmosphere for only a few days to weeks.

In a related announcement from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, Mira Pelker, head of the Aerosols and Cloud Microphysics department, emphasizes: “Reduced soot emissions through the limited burning of fossil fuels such as diesel, coal, oil or even wood it would help the health of millions of people relatively quickly. In addition, our measurements and computational models show that less soot in the atmosphere makes a significant contribution to limiting climate change.”

The atmospheric researcher, who also conducts related research at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, hopes that “certain changes in our behavior during the coronavirus period, such as more teleconferences and working from home and therefore fewer flights and business travel will be maintained. I think the pandemic has given the impetus for change.”

The above scientific team is now participating in a new research in which psychologists are also included. Its aim is to find out whether offers such as the nine-euro monthly ticket on all German MMMs can actually lead to a permanent change in people’s commuting behaviour. However, according to Pelker, “besides the general reduction of traffic, it is also important to create incentives for low-emission mobility. Heavily subsidized local public transport is a major boost, whose impact on air pollution can now be quantified.”

RES-EMP

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