Lockdown effects on air pollution with meteorological conditions in Istanbul


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ÜNAL Z. F., KARA Y., Dinç U., ÖZTÜRK R., Çöl İ., Öztürk B., ...Daha Fazla

International Scientific Journal for Alternative Energy and Ecology, cilt.1, sa.3, ss.77-90, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

The most affected regions by the COVID-19 outbreak are megacities. One of the most important environmental problems in these cities is air pollution. During the lockdown period, an improvement in air quality was observed in many metropolitan cities based on air pollutants. In this study, Istanbul province was chosen due to its demographic structure. In Turkey, many precautions such as lockdowns have been implemented against COVID-19 starting from March 15, 2020. As these measures change people's lifestyles and habits, anthropogenic emissions are expected to reduce. In previous studies, the relationships between air pollution and meteorological variables such as wind speed and direction, pressure and humidity have been proved. Therefore, in this study, it was decided to examine the mete-orological variables mentioned above and air pollutants together. In the studied period, Controlled lockdowns were imposed intermittently in 1/3 of April. The comparison of air pollutant values belonging to lockdown and non-lockdown days were examined in consideration of the meteorological variables. PM10, CO, NO2, SO2 and O3 pollutant datasets taken from Ministry of Environment and Urbanization for several points in Istanbul and meteorological charts for the same dates taken from various sources were evaluated.