Leveraging the COVID-19 India-wide lockdown situation, the present study attempts to quantify the reduction in the ambient fine particulate matter concentrations during the lockdown (compared with that of the pre-lockdown period), owing to the highly reduced specific anthropogenic activities and thereby pollutant emissions. The study was conducted over Bengaluru (India), using PM2.5 (mass concentration of particulate matter having size less than or equal to 2.5 µm) and Black Carbon mass concentration (BC) data. Open-access datasets from pollution control board (PCB) were also utilised to understand the spatial variability and region-specific reduction in PM2.5 across the city.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.01.017
(*Meenakshi Kushwaha, Adithi R. Upadhya, and B. Spandana are the other authors of this paper.)
