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Applied Geography
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/apgeog
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: With the rapid spread of COVID-19 related cases globally, national governments took different lockdown ap
COVID-19 proaches to limit the spread of the virus. Among them, the Government of India imposed a complete nationwide
PM10 lockdown starting on March 25, 2020. This presented a unique opportunity to explore how a complete standstill
PM2.5
in regular daily activities might impact the local environment. In this study, we have analyzed the change in the
Delhi metropolitan region
Harmonics
air quality levels stemming from the reduced anthropogenic activities in one of the most polluted cities in the
Diurnal world, the Delhi Metropolitan Region (DMR). We analyzed station-level changes in particulate matter, PM10 and
PM2.5, across the DMR between April 2019 and 2020. The results of our study showed widespread reduction in
the levels of both pollutants, with substantial spatial variations. The largest decreases in particulate matter were
associated with industrial and commercial areas. Highest levels of PM10 and PM2.5 were observed near sunrise
with little change in the time of maximum between 2019 and 2020. The results of our study highlight the role of
anthropogenic activities on the air quality at the local level.
1. Introduction over a one month period between April 2019 and 2020 in the Delhi
Metropolitan Region (DMR), India (Fig. 1).
Within a few months in 2020, COVID-19 had massively impacted the The Government of India imposed lockdown on all of its 1.3 billion
entire globe far beyond the direct effects on human health. These im citizens on March 25, 2020 to limit the spread of the COVID-19; the
pacts vary at different spatial scales as reflected in the number of in lockdown ended after 55 days on May 19, 2020. As a result, there was
fections and mortality, as well as the indirect impacts on the economy widespread shutdown of factories, road, and air traffic across the DMR.
and environment. Many local and national governments implemented The shutdown was so severe that it triggered a massive migration of
various degrees of lockdown or “shelter at home” policies to contain the wage laborers walking for several 100s of kilometers across northern
spread of this global pandemic. This has resulted in a massive reduction India to their villages caused by no available jobs and the cancellation of
in global economic activity thereby significantly lowering air pollution long distance transportation such as railways and bus systems. The
levels in many areas of the world including China (Wu et al., 2020) and initial results from satellite image analysis of aerosol optical depths
India (Patel et al., 2020). Specifically, substantial declines in ground revealed a significant drop across the northern plains resulting from the
level nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter were reported closure of coal-fired heavy industries and reduction in traffic across
within the first two weeks of the lockdown in 27 countries as revealed large urban areas like the DMR (Patel et al., 2020). In addition, there
from the analysis of satellite data during February and March 2020 have been widespread reports in mainstream media outlets about the
(Venter et al., 2020). However, due to the coarse spatial and temporal reduction in pollution levels in the DMR dropping from unhealthy and
resolution of the satellite data, their study was limited in revealing the hazardous to good (Business Today, 2020; Ellis-Peterson et al., 2020).
local level patterns in air pollution. This is particularly relevant in parts These trends have also been documented in recently published studies.
of Asia, such as in India, where most of the high pollution levels are For instance, Shehzad et al. (2020) analyzed Sentinel – 5 P satellite
concentrated in the large urban areas. Therefore, in the present study we images and reported a significant improvement in air quality and a
have analyzed the change in levels of two pollutants, PM10 and PM2.5, 40–50% decrease in atmospheric nitrogen dioxide levels in the large
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ssr@miami.edu (S.S. Roy).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2021.102418
Received 10 June 2020; Received in revised form 4 January 2021; Accepted 27 January 2021
Available online 1 March 2021
0143-6228/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
cities of India, including DMR and Mumbai. More detailed analysis of Specifically, for the DMR a reduction in life expectancy due to exposure
station level data for the DMR during pre and post lockdown periods to PM2.5 was 6.3 ± 2.2 years greater than the same for overall Indian
revealed significant decreases in levels of particulate matter within days population (3.4 ± 1.1 years) (Ghude et al., 2016).
of the lockdown (Kumari & Toshniwal, 2020; Mahato et al., 2020). Due to the paucity of data, most of the above mentioned station level
Additionally, detailed hourly analysis of air pollutants revealed a decline studies in the DMR have examined the variations for select pollutants in
in the levels of particulate matter during nighttime and peak traffic limited number of stations, ranging between two and five. The results
hours (Singh et al., 2020). from these studies revealed significant variations in the levels of various
This is particularly significant in view of the DMR and its suburbs pollutants and diurnal cycles across the study area. All of these studies
being ranked as the most polluted city in the world for at least the last highlighted the excessive readings and increase in the levels of pollut
five years. Specifically, the pollutants with consistently high levels in the ants in the DMR, mainly resulting from traffic congestion and industrial
DMR are PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, and O3 (Aneja et al., 2001; Balachan activities. Thus, with the implementation of the strict measures associ
dran et al., 2000; Gurjar et al., 2004; Kandikar 2007; Nagar et al., 2019; ated with the lockdown, the drop in air pollution levels is distinctly
O’Shea et al., 2015; Sahu et al., 2011). Furthermore, India has recorded visible and merits detailed analysis. Therefore, the two specific objec
an increasing trend in population-weighted mean concentrations of tives of the study are:
PM2.5, with a noticeable increase since 2010 (Bhakta et al., 2019; Gurjar
et al., 2016). These elevated concentrations of PM2.5 exposures have 1. Determine the local-level spatial patterns of change in the levels of
been attributed to annual premature death estimates of 272,000 for two major pollutants, PM10 and PM2.5, between April 2019 and 2020.
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 110,600 for ischemic 2. Analyze the changes in the time of maximum for peak levels in PM10
heart disease, and 14,800 for lung cancer (Chowdhury & Dey, 2016). and PM2.5 between April 2019 and 2020.
Fig. 1. Distribution of air pollution monitoring stations in the Delhi Metropolitan Region (DMR).
2
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
2. Data and methods equals tan− 1 (ar/br), and the portion of variance denoted by the rth
harmonic wave, Vr, is calculated as A2r /2s2 wherein s is the standard
Station-level hourly data for PM10 and PM2.5 were obtained from the deviation of the N values (see Nelson, 1983, p. 190). Given that the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), collected as part of the Air harmonic wave is fitted to PM10 or PM2.5 averages in 24 hourly intervals,
Quality Monitoring Program in India. The data were collected for April the explained variance levels had to be > 0.16 to be statistically sig
2019 and 2020 to assess the change in pollution levels due to the nificant at the 0.05 level of confidence. This method has been success
lockdown. There are 40 pollution monitoring stations spread across the fully used to study diurnal patterns in air pollution variables in previous
DMR, out of which there were continuous data available for 34 stations studies (Liu & Sen Roy, 2014; O’Shea et al., 2015).
for PM10 and 31 stations for PM2.5 (Fig. 1). We analyzed only two pol
lutants PM10 and PM2.5 because these were the only two pollutants with 3. Results and discussion
complete data across all the stations. The data for the other pollutants
were incomplete and thus not suitable for analysis. Furthermore, these The DMR is located in the northern interior of the Indian subconti
two pollutants have consistently been the biggest challenge for air nent, and thus experiences a typical continental climate. The compara
quality scientists and policymakers and therefore the results of the study tive results from the two different years reveal substantially lower levels
are particularly relevant. In order to test the spatial distribution of the of in the levels of air pollution between the two years with distinct
station network across the study area, the nearest-neighbor statistics spatial variations across the DMR (Fig. 2). Typical of megacities of Asia,
were calculated as the ratio between the observed mean distance among the DMR is densely populated (greater than 25,000 persons per km2),
the station locations and the expected mean distance given a random with an estimated total population of about 17 million. Majority of the
distribution (Clark & Evans, 1954). The ratios of 1.03 for PM10 and 0.90 DMR is urban, with 97.5% of the population identified as urban (Sen
for PM2.5 show that both station networks have a random distribution. Roy et al., 2020). According to Jain et al. (2016), the net percent change
We analyzed the changes in the levels of PM10 and PM2.5 for the in land use from 1977 to 2014 for urban built-up areas increased by
monthly average values by calculating the differences at the station 30.61%, along with a decrease by 22.75% for cultivated areas, 5.31% for
level. The percentage change in the levels of the pollutants at the station dense forest, and 2.76% for wasteland. With the steep increase in pop
level were visualized using spatial interpolation, simple kriging. Kriging ulation accompanied by car ownership and unplanned urbanization, the
is a surface interpolation method utilized to visualize spatial variation DMR has experienced steep increase in levels of air pollution over the
through a variogram, thus minimizing prediction errors (Oliver & years. The extremely hazardous levels of air pollution in the winter
Webster, 1990; Sen Roy, 2006a). The final interpolated surface is months has led to the forced closure of schools and steep increase res
calculated by incorporating the spatial and statistical relationships piratory diseases among the local population. The sources of air pollu
among the different variables by using the following equation: tion are not only from local sources such as vehicular emissions and
industrial activities, but more recently the burning of crops after har
Z(s) = μ + ε(s)
vesting in the agricultural fields in the neighboring states of Punjab and
Where μ is a known constant utilized to interpolate the resulting surface, Haryana. Thus, the pollution levels noted in 2019 typifies that time of
s denotes the location being predicted, and ε(s) is the error term (Sen the year in the DMR over the last decade.
Roy, 2006b). This method was preferred because of its accuracy in As is evident from Fig. 2, the level for both pollutants in 2019 were
surface interpolation and lower root mean square error. higher than those observed in 2020 for all the stations. The percentage
Harmonic analysis was used to determine the time of maximum change for PM10 ranged between 20 and 70%, while the range of decline
concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 levels based on the average hourly was wider for PM2.5 at 15–90%. At the local level, 21 out of 31 stations
values over the course of a month. To fit a trigonometric wave with one experienced greater than 50% decline for PM10. The largest declines
maxima and one minima, the harmonic equation for any station with 24 were concentrated in the eastern half of the DMR, which also consis
values takes the form: tently experienced higher levels of particulate matter. Moreover, for the
PM2.5 the largest percentage declines (greater than 50%) were observed
for only 8 out of 34 stations located in the central and eastern parts of the
N/2
∑
f (x) = X + Ar cos(rθ − Φr )
r=1
DMR. The greater decline in central DMR is due to the lower levels of
economic activity associated with the high density of office buildings
where f(x) is the estimated value in each interval, X is the average value and commercial areas in the core downtown area. Similarly, the higher
over the N = 24 intervals, Ar is the amplitude of the rth harmonic wave, r rates of decline in the eastern DMR are associated with the closure of
is the frequency or number of times the harmonic wave is repeated over local factories and thermal power plants. Specifically, there are three
the fundamental period (in this case r = 1), θ is derived as 2π x/N where x thermal power plants located in the DMR, which include Indraprastha
signifies the intervals over the fundamental period, and Φr is the phase Power Station and Rajghat Power House in the east, and Badarpur Power
angle of the rth harmonic reinterpreted as the time of maximum. The Station in the northwest. Majority of the land use in the northern and
basic form is explained below: western DMR is residential, and thus experienced relatively lower levels
of decline in the pollutants. Two stations, located in Shadipur (west of
central downtown) and Dilshad Garden (east) experienced greater than
N/2
∑
f (x) = X + [ar sin(2πrx / P) + br cos(2πrx / P)]
r=1 85% decline in PM2.5 (Fig. 2b and Table 2). The lowest differences in
average hourly levels of PM10 were located outside the central core of
where the Fourier coefficients, ar and br, are calculated as: the DMR, such as Najafgarh (192 μg/m3 in 2019 vs 146.1ug/m3 in
2020), Ashok Vihar (168.2ug/m3 in 2019 vs 95.42μg/m3 in 2020), and
∑N
ar =
2
[f (x)sin(2π rx / P)] Aya Nagar (155.7ug/m3 in 2019 vs 78.53μg/m3 in 2020) (Table 1,
x=1
N Fig. 2a). Among these three stations, two of them are predominantly
residential, while Najafgarh consists of transitioning from rural to urban
and land uses mixed with industries. Similarly in the case of PM2.5, the
∑N lowest differences in average hourly levels were observed in predomi
2
br = [f (x)cos(2πrx / P)] nantly residential areas, including Lodhi Road (57μg/m3 in 2019 vs
N
x=1 46.5ug/m3 in 2020), Aya Nagar (51.8ug/m3 in 2019 vs 39.1ug/m3 in
The amplitude, Ar, is calculated as (ar 2 + br 2)0.5, the phase angle, Φr , 2020), and Punjabi Bagh (155.7ug/m3 in 2019 vs 73.4ug/m3 in 2020)
(Table 2, Fig. 2b). Moreover, the hourly maximum values between the
3
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
Fig. 2. Changes in average hourly levels of particulate matter between April 2019 and 2020 (a) PM10; (b) PM2.5.
two years revealed higher values across most of the stations during 2019 pollutant, the mean difference in the time of maximum across the station
for both PM10 and PM2.5, except in Punjabi Bagh (for both pollutants) network was essentially equal to the standard error of the estimate in
and Pusa DPCC (PM2.5) in West Delhi (Tables 1 and 2). There was also a calculating the mean, thereby suggesting that the difference is not sta
greater amount of variance in the hourly maximum levels for both of the tistically significant. We also analyzed the change in the time of
pollutants during 2019 compared to 2020. However, the patterns were maximum for the monthly maximum and minimum levels, and the
not as distinct in the case of hourly minimum values across the DMR. patterns were predominantly similar to that observed for the average
Our results are in conformity with the results of a previous study by monthly levels.
Tiwari et al. (2015), who found substantial spatial variations in the The different sources of air pollution in the DMR are well docu
correlation between observed levels of PM10 and PM2.5 at the seasonal mented, which include industrial activities, transport, road side con
scale and weekday vs weekends for a limited number of stations. Spe struction, and regional emission sources that contribute a significant
cifically, their analysis of hourly level observations of these two par fraction to aerosol mass loading in the region (Nagpure et al., 2013;
ticulates revealed the mean coarse mode particulate mass concentration Saxena et al., 2014, 2017; Sen et al., 2016; Sharma et al., 2016). Thus,
(PM10–2.5) as 113.6 ± 70.4 μg/m3 (varied from 13.6 to 630 μg/m3) the almost complete stop in the rush hour traffic and other anthropo
constituting about 49% contribution of PM2.5 to PM10 concentrations. genic activities, including industrial and construction, can be considered
Moreover, Singh et al. (2013) found distinct seasonal patterns in the as the major factors for the substantial decline in levels of particulate
levels of PM10–2.5 across the DMR, ranging from highest during the dry matter at the local level. It is also noteworthy that the spatial and
summer months to lowest during the cold winter months. This is due to temporal patterns of particulate matter in the DMR are a result of
the greater load of coarser particles during the summer months as a anthropogenic activities across the wider densely populated northern
result of dust transport form surrounding areas during the summer plains. The advective transport of particulate matter across the northern
months compared to winter months. plains and consequent dispersal of pollutants to the marine atmospheric
In addition, we examined the change in monthly peak time of boundary layer of the Bay of Bengal has been well documented (Lelie
maximum for the two pollutants between the two years (Fig. 3). The veld et al., 2001; Sudheer & Sarin, 2008). Since the lockdown was at the
peak time of maximum showed a gradual progression from after national level, the results of our study can be representative of the levels
midnight to early morning hours for PM10 across most of the stations in a of air pollution across the wider region of the Indian subcontinent.
north to south direction during both years (Fig. 3a). In the case of PM2.5,
the peak time of maximum occurrence occurred closer to the early 4. Conclusions
morning hours, with a few hours earlier occurrence in the north relative
to the south (Fig. 3b). The midnight to early morning maximum In the present study we have examined the impacts of lockdown in
observed for both the pollutants can be attributed to the minimum the DMR on the spatial patterns of air quality during April 2020. We
variations in the convective available potential energy (CAPE) and other analyzed two variables, PM2.5 and PM10 at the station level during April
thermodynamic parameters in the early morning hours in the DMR 2019 and 2020. The main findings of our study are summarized below:
(Ratnam et al., 2013). In addition there is relative lower atmospheric
boundary layer and high traffic density in the early morning hours in the 1. There was substantial decline in the levels of PM10 (20–70%) and
DMR. Similar results of higher levels of PM2.5 early morning and PM2.5 (15–90%) in air quality across the DMR.
midnight were also found by Bhakta et al. (2019) from the analysis of 2 2. Spatially, the highest decline for the particulate matter was observed
years of data at one station in the DMR. The results of their study also over the downtown core area and the adjacent industrial areas in the
revealed a strong negative correlation between air temperatures and east and west.
levels of PM2.5. 3. The areas experiencing greater decline in the levels of particulate
As seen in Fig. 3, the times of maximum PM10 or PM2.5 levels did not matter are associated with greater proportion of commercial land
change appreciably between 2019 and 2020 at most stations. For each
4
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
Table 1
Descriptive statistics for PM10 maximum, minimum, and average levels.
Station Year Maximum Standard Deviation Minimum Standard Deviation Average
uses and economic activity in the form of offices and industries. lockdown during a one month period on the local environment. As
Overall, the decline in PM10 was more widespread than PM2.5. evident from the results of previously published studies, elevated levels
4. The diurnal patterns of the time of maximum for average monthly of particulate matter in the DMR have led to increased rates of prema
levels occurred closer to midnight for PM10 and early morning hours ture mortality in the DMR. An analysis of the relative contribution of
for PM2.5, which were in conformity with the results of previous various sectors to the levels of PM2.5 in the DMR and its surrounding
studies. area revealed transportation as the leading sector, followed by resi
5. The time of maximum values did not change significantly between dential (in the form of wood, coal, kerosene, cow dung used with poor
2019 and 2020. combustion technology in informal settlements, and liquefied petroleum
gas with less emission in almost all houses), power plants (coal as fuel),
The results of our study highlight some of the positive impacts of the and industrial sectors (Jain et al., 2018; Sahu et al., 2011). Therefore,
5
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
Table 2
Descriptive statistics for PM2.5 maximum, minimum, and average levels.
Station Year Maximum Standard Deviation Minimum Standard Deviation Average
with the implementation of a complete lockdown in the DMR leading to the steep declines in levels of pollutants observed in different parts of the
a steep decline in anthropogenic activities in the transportation and DMR have come at substantial social and economic costs, which make
industrial sector resulted in the substantial improvement in air quality. them difficult to sustain in the long-term. Further analysis is required to
Moreover, both of these pollutants have been consistently above the examine the implementation of similar phased lockdowns without
national standards and persistently represented a major challenge for excessive negative socio-economic impacts to achieve a more sustained
policymakers and air quality scientists. However, it is noteworthy that decrease in levels of air pollution.
6
S.S. Roy and R.C. Balling Jr. Applied Geography 128 (2021) 102418
Fig. 3. Spatial distribution of peak time of maximum (a) Average PM10; (b) Average PM2.5. The symbols pointing north indicate time of maximum at midnight, those
pointing south indicate time of maximum at noon, and those pointing west indicate maximum at 6 p.m., and so on.
This is particularly critical in view of the increased mortality, Gurjar, B. R., van Aardenne, J. A., Lelieveld, J., & Mohan, M. (2004). Emission estimates
and trends (1990–2000) for mega city Delhi and implications. Atmospheric
particularly an 11% increase in cardiovascular mortality as result of a
Environment, 38, 5663–5681.
10 μgm− 3 increase of PM2.5 (Bourdrel et al., 2017). Additionally, PM2.5 Jain, M., Dawa, D., Mehta, R., Dimri, A. P., & Pandit, M. K. (2016). Monitoring land use
has been identified as the 5th risk factor of mortality, with 59% of those change and its drivers in Delhi, India using multi-temporal satellite data. Modeling
occurring in East and South Asia (Cohen et al., 2017). Therefore, it Earth Systems and Environment, 2(1), 19.
Jain, S., Sharma, S. K., Mandal, T. K., & Saxena, M. (2018). Source apportionment of
would be worthwhile to explore the impact of lower levels of particulate PM10 in Delhi, India using PCA/APCS, UNMIX and PMF. Particuology, 37, 107–118.
matter on the general health of the population in the DMR once the Kandlikar, M. (2007). Air pollution at a hotspot location in Delhi: Detecting trends,
appropriate data are available for analysis. seasonal cycles and oscillations. Atmospheric Environment, 41, 5934–5947.
Kumari, P., & Toshniwal, D. (2020). Impact of lockdown measures during COVID-19 on
air quality–A case study of India. International Journal of Environmental Health
Author statement Research, 1–8.
Lelieveld, J. O., Crutzen, P. J., Ramanathan, V., Andreae, M. O.,
Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Campos, T., Cass, G. R., Dickerson, R. R., Fischer, H., De
Shouraseni Sen Roy and Robert C. Balling Jr.: Conceptualization, Gouw, J. A., & Hansel, A. (2001). The Indian ocean experiment: Widespread air
Methodology, Data curation, Visualization, Investigation, Writing- pollution from south and southeast Asia. Science, 291(5506), 1031–1036.
Original draft preparation, Reviewing, and Editing. Liu, Z., & Sen Roy, S. (2014). Spatial patterns of seasonal level diurnal variations of
ozone and respirable suspended particulates in Hong Kong. The Professional
Geographer, 67(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2014.886922
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