The European Space Agency says air pollution is returning to pre-pandemic levels. Why is the space agency reporting on the environment? Because they have been using satellites to study air quality through 2020 and 2021 to see how pandemic shutdowns influenced pollution levels. There was a well-documented decline in air pollution when lockdowns were mandated at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Below are just three examples of reporting by our weather team last year on this topic:
Nitrogen dioxide, primarily emitted from burning fossil fuels for transportation and electri…
India placed a strict lockdown on citizens and businesses at the end of March to stop the spread of COVID-19. Now NASA is releasing satellite images from the area showing how large an impact that is having on pollution levels.
NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites have detected significa…
Over China the ESA is now seeing nitrogen dioxide levels returning to where they were before the pandemic began. Nitrogen dioxide is "a gas which pollutes the air mainly as a result of traffic and the combustion of fossil fuel in industrial processes." Nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere isn't 100% a direct result of pollution, though. It can be moved around by the wind and influenced by changing weather conditions.
Image Credit: European Space Agency (nitrogen dioxide concentrations over China)
The ESA also expects as more restrictions are eased, nitrogen dioxide levels will climb over much of Europe in the coming weeks. This data comes from the Tropomi instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, specifically tasked with studying the atmosphere. That's how the European Space Agency has been able to take such a detailed look at atmospheric pollutants through the coronavirus pandemic.
