Monitoring NO2 content in the atmosphere of Russia using satellite data during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In 2020, the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronovirus. In order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the Russian Federation, there was a lockdown during the period from 30 March to 11 May 2020 when many people worked remotely. Nitrogen dioxide is reliable indicator of the intensity of anthropogenic activity. The main instruments which carry out long-term monitoring of the gas total column are spectrometers OMI and TROPOMI which are installed on Aura and Sentinel-5 satellites respectively. The highest anomalies of the gas concentration were found in Moscow, Moscow region and Saint Petersburg. Abrupt decrease of NO2 content related to COVID-19 was observed in 2020. The significant reduction of the atmospheric NO2 was caused by the decrease in economic activity on the territory of Russia. Nevertheless, the period of COVID-19 lockdown in April-May 2020 did not cause significant decline in atmospheric NO2 in Moscow or Saint Petersburg as it was observed in China. © 2021 Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.