Some cities see carbon dioxide levels drop by 45-50% due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Some cities see carbon dioxide levels drop by 45-50% due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Some cities see carbon dioxide levels drop by 45-50% compared to the same period last year, data received by the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite from the European Union’s Copernicus program suggests.

This decrease occurs coinciding with the confinement measures decreed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carbon dioxide

The new images show nitrogen dioxide concentrations from March 13 to April 13, 2020, compared to average concentrations from March to April 2019 .

Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations Over Europe Pillars

Scientists at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) have been monitoring air pollution in Europe in recent months using data from the Tropomi instrument on the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite .

Madrid, Milan and Rome saw declines of around 45%, while Paris saw a 54% drop, coinciding with the strict quarantine measures in place across Europe .

As Henk Eskes from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) explains:

Averaging data over longer periods of time allows us to see clearer changes in concentrations due to human activity. For this reason, the maps show the concentrations during a monthly period and have an uncertainty of 15% that reflects the climatic variability that is not taken into account in the monthly averages used.