Dr. Aaron Naeger thinks California’s nitrogen dioxide reductions were due to transportation reductions and natural variability in weather.
California’s nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) air pollution has been reduced by a combination of the state’s COVID-19 lockdown and naturally occurring effects, according to an atmospheric scientist at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).
Dr. Aaron Naeger, a research scientist in UAH’s Earth Systems Science Center, mapped the state’s NO₂ emissions through NASA’s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT), where he is a lead aerosol and air-quality scientist. SPoRT is housed at UAH’s National Space Science Technology Center in Cramer Research Hall.
"I tracked NO₂ concentrations from satellite observations since NO₂ is a tracker for human activities related to transportation and industrial sectors," Dr. Naeger says. "California was a prime area of conducting this study due to the active transportation sector in the densely populated state."
The research involved analyzing spatial patterns in weekday NO₂ concentrations in March during the period when lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak were being adopted in the state. Dr. Naeger blogged about the research on The Wide World of SPoRT website.
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