Analysis of Impact of COVID-19 on Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide Concentrations Across the Northeastern United States, 2019-2021

Creator

Bettina Bonfiglio, SUNY Cortland

Preview

Faculty Mentor

Christopher Badurek

Creation Date

4-23-2021

Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has been called a ‘natural experiment’ in which to analyze the relationship between anthropogenic activities and emissions from fossil fuels. Preliminary studies from NASA satellite monitoring show a decline in commuting for work and reduced electrical consumption are related to a decline in air pollution as evidenced by atmospheric measures of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). This study explores this relationship further by comparing rates of SO₂ and NO₂ using data from NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and second Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) Model, gathered from NASA’s GIOVANNI web GIS application. The data are collected at 0.25 by 0.25 degrees (OMI) and 0.5 by 0.625 degrees (MERRA-2) spatial resolution. Preliminary results indicate substantial differences in measures of both tropospheric column SO₂ and NO₂in the New York City metro area, along the I-95 corridor, and across the state of Pennsylvania.