Italy's coronavirus response dramatically reduces air pollution emissions, satellites show

[Judi Lynn]

By Meghan Bartels - Space.com Senior Writer 4 days ago

As the world scrambles to confront the disease caused by a novel coronavirus, Italy has been forced to take such dramatic measures that the country's emissions have changed, as seen from space.

That's on display in a new video produced by the European Space Agency (ESA) using data gathered by the agency's Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite. That spacecraft tracks air pollution in the atmosphere, and the satellite has seen a sharp decrease in emissions of nitrogen dioxide over Italy during the first two and a half months of 2020. The Italian prime minister ordered northern Italy into a lockdown on Sunday (March 8) to try to contain the disease, known as COVID-19.

"Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities," Claus Zehner, the mission's manager at ESA, said in a statement.

Italy has seen the greatest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 of any country except China, where the outbreak, which is now classified as a pandemic, began. Cases were particularly prevalent in northern Italy, hence the prime minister's regulations closing public spaces there. Since then, he has extended the measures throughout the country.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/italy-coronavirus-outbreak-response-reduces-emissions-satellite-images.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Pretty sure I read the same about China

Seems like we all normally drive too much.