Small aerosol particles emitted in the atmosphere from industry and from fossil fuel combustion deeply penetrate into human lungs and cause serious respiratory problems. Particulate matter in combination with COVID-19 virus may increase the number of severe COVID-19 cases.  Therefore, it is very useful to complete studies on aerosols particularly related to COVID-19 measures, to help to understand the impact on human health and on air quality, and for global climate changes in general.

The study on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements from satellites including Sentinel-5p, looked at the industrious regions of Northern Italy during the first lockdown period in March 2020. Scientists found that the AOD level increased compared to the same month in 2019, rather than decreased as we saw with Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) and Carbon Dioxide (CO₂). However, these results could be misleading, as we cannot distinguish these measurements between natural or anthropogenic sources, therefore there may still have been a decrease in anthropogenic emissions that cannot be seen in these AOD measurements compared to 2019. In order to solve this issue, the researchers will use the GRASP aerosol retrieval algorithm to exploit the available satellite observations in order to relate aerosol dynamics with the environmental changes imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, by better characterising local aerosols. 

Featured Educators:

• Dr Pavel Litinov, Senior Scientist, GRASP-SAS, University ofLille
• Prof Oleg Dubovik, Senior Scientist, Laboratoire d'OptiqueAtmosphérique, University of Lille

Thanks to all of the contributing scientists for self-filming during the COVID-19 lockdown.

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