2nd AQ-SERVE Press Release (M18) RPF/INTEGRATED/0916/0016
Title: Reduced air pollution in Nicosia during lockdown.
NICOSIA, June 2020 - Researchers of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute (www.cyi.ac.cy), with the contribution of the continuous monitoring of major pollutants performed by the Air Quality section of the Cyprus’ Department of Labour in the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance (www.airquality.gov.cy ), investigated air quality in Nicosia during lockdown. It was determined to what extent the decrease of traffic emissions has changed the concentration levels of air pollution in the urban environment.
Preliminary results show that the unprecedented lockdown measures taken in the battle against coronavirus (COVID-19) have triggered a major decrease of air pollution due to local traffic emissions in Nicosia. The researchers focused on two pollutants, carbon monoxide (CO), which is derived from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels, including those from traffic and biomass burning, and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which come almost exclusively from fossil fuel use. Data were obtained in March,...