Spatiotemporal impact of COVID-19 on Taiwan air quality in the absence of a lockdown: Influence of urban public transportation use and meteorological conditions

Wong, Yong Jie and Shiu, Huan-Yu and Chang, Jackson Hian Wui and Ooi, Maggie Chel Gee and Li, Hsueh-Hsun and Ryosuke Homma and Chiueh, Pei-Te and Luksanaree Maneechot and Nik Meriam Nik Sulaiman (2022) Spatiotemporal impact of COVID-19 on Taiwan air quality in the absence of a lockdown: Influence of urban public transportation use and meteorological conditions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 365. pp. 1-17. ISSN 0959-6526

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...

Abstract

The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 significantly improved the atmospheric environment for lockdown-imposed regions; however, scant evidence exists on its impacts on regions without lockdown. A novel research framework is proposed to evaluate the long-term monthly spatiotemporal impact of COVID-19 on Taiwan air quality through different statistical analyses, including geostatistical analysis, change detection analysis and identification of nonattainment pollutant occurrence between the average mean air pollutant concentrations from 2018–2019 and 2020, considering both meteorological and public transportation impacts. Contrary to lockdown-imposed regions, insignificant or worsened air quality conditions were observed at the beginning of COVID-19, but a delayed improvement occurred after April in Taiwan. The annual mean concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO and O3 in 2020 were reduced by 24%, 18%, 15%, 9.6%, 7.4% and 1.3%, respectively (relative to 2018–2019), and the overall occurrence frequency of nonattainment air pollutants declined by over 30%. Backward stepwise regression models for each air pollutant were successfully constructed utilizing 12 meteorological parameters (R2 > 0.8 except for SO2) to simulate the meteorological normalized business-as-usual concentration. The hybrid single-particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model simulated the fate of air pollutants (e.g., local emissions or transboundary pollution) for anomalous months. The changes in different public transportation usage volumes (e.g., roadway, railway, air, and waterway) moderately reduced air pollution, particularly CO and NO2. Reduced public transportation use had a more significant impact than meteorology on air quality improvement in Taiwan, highlighting the importance of proper public transportation management for air pollution control and paving a new path for sustainable air quality management even in the absence of a lockdown.

Item Type:	Article
Keyword:	Air quality , Covid-19 , Absence of lockdown , Public transportation , Meteorological normalization , HYSPLIT
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA1-2040 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA1001-1280 Transportation engineering T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering > TD1-1066 Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering > TD878-894 Special types of environment Including soil pollution, air pollution, noise pollution
Department:	CENTRE > Preparation Centre for Science and Technology
Depositing User:	SAFRUDIN BIN DARUN -
Date Deposited:	15 Sep 2022 16:08
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2022 16:08
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/34133

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