Changes in short-lived climate pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tehran, Iran

This study investigates the changes of short-lived climate pollutants and other air pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tehran, Iran. Concentrations of air pollutants were obtained from 21 monitoring stations for the period from 5 January 2019 to 5 August 2019, representing normal conditions unaffected by COVID-19, and the period 5 January 2020 to 5 August 2020, i.e., during the COVID-19 crisis. We concentrated our analysis on three time windows (23 February 2020 to 15 March 2020, 18 March 2020 to 3 April 2020, and 5 April 2020 to 17 April 2020) during the lockdown when different sets of measures were taken to limit the spread of COVID-19. In comparison to the period not affected by COVID-19 measures, mean concentrations of pollutants were increased during the first lockdown period; when the number of COVID-19 patients increased sharply compared to the other periods, the mean surface concentrations of NO₂, SO₂, and CO were decreased and concentrations of other pollutants (i.e., O₃, PM₁₀, and PM_2.5) were increased during the second lockdown period compared to the corresponding period in 2019. In the third period, the mean concentrations were decreased compared to the corresponding period in 2019. For the full period, decreases in mean concentrations of O₃, NO₂, SO₂, CO, and PM₁₀ and increases in PM_2.5 were observed during the COVID-19 crisis, compared to 2019. Overall, the strongest reductions, 12% and 6%, respectively, were observed for CO and NO₂, pointing to reduced emissions from traffic as a result of lockdown measures. The concentrations of other pollutants changed little, suggesting that the lockdown measures did not result in strong changes in the emissions from stationary sources.