Assessment of the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality changes during COVID-19 lockdown in Bogota, Colombia.
2022-01-0705
03/29/2022
- Event
- Content
- The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to implement rigorous containment measures on reduction or cessation of human mobility, transportation and economic activities, to control the spread of the virus. This is considered as a unique opportunity to study the impact of local lockdowns periods, especially, on the vehicle emission levels, and urban air quality in cities with high pollution levels, such as Bogota, Colombia. The first case was confirmed in Colombia on March 6, 2020, since then to prevent its propagation, the government declared a national lockdown starting from March 20 until August 31, 2020. Therefore, this study attempted to analyse the air quality in Bogota by assessing the concentrations of the atmospheric pollutants NO₂, SO₂, O₃, CO, PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ during the lockdown period and the corresponding concentrations levels during the same period in 2018 and 2019. The data for this pilot study was obtained from the ambient air quality monitoring stations of Bogota's Secretary of Environment. The present work applied a descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of the data to quantify the change in the average concentrations of each air pollutant and their trend before and during the lockdown period in conjunction with a relationship analysis among the air pollutants concentration, the volume flow rate of traffic, types of dominant vehicles and categories. The lockdown period indicated a considerable reduction in traffic flow patterns and a drop in emission levels by 29% CO, 21% PM10, 18% NO2, 16% SO2, and 11% PM2.5; On the contrary, levels of atmospheric ozone were found to be increased by 22%. The analysis suggests possible correlations between the levels of atmospheric ozone levels and the NO2 levels during this period. The outcome of this pilot study will enable the policy makers to forecast the impact of electrification of transportation on atmospheric ozone levels.
- Citation
- Pardo Amaya, D., and Samuel, S., "Assessment of the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality changes during COVID-19 lockdown in Bogota, Colombia.," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0705, 2022, .