Shanableh Abdallah, Al-Ruzouq Rami, Hamad Khaled, Gibril Mohamed Barakat A, Khalil Mohamad Ali, Khalifa Inas, El Traboulsi Yahya, Pradhan Biswajeet, Jena Ratiranjan, Alani Sama, Alhosani Mohamad, Stietiya Mohammed Hashem, Al Bardan Mayyada, Al-Mansoori Saeed
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates.
GIS & Remote Sensing Center, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates.
Remote Sens Appl. 2022 Apr;26:100757. doi: 10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100757. Epub 2022 Apr 19.
The stringent COVID-19 lockdown measures in 2020 significantly impacted people's mobility and air quality worldwide. This study presents an assessment of the impacts of the lockdown and the subsequent reopening on air quality and people's mobility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Google's community mobility reports and UAE's government lockdown measures were used to assess the changes in the mobility patterns. Time-series and statistical analyses of various air pollutants levels (NO, O, SO, PM, and aerosol optical depth-AOD) obtained from satellite images and ground monitoring stations were used to assess air quality. The levels of pollutants during the initial lockdown (March to June 2020) and the subsequent gradual reopening in 2020 and 2021 were compared with their average levels during 2015-2019. During the lockdown, people's mobility in the workplace, parks, shops and pharmacies, transit stations, and retail and recreation sectors decreased by about 34%-79%. However, the mobility in the residential sector increased by up to 29%. The satellite-based data indicated significant reductions in NO (up to 22%), SO (up to 17%), and AOD (up to 40%) with small changes in O (up to 5%) during the lockdown. Similarly, data from the ground monitoring stations showed significant reductions in NO (49% - 57%) and PM (19% - 64%); however, the SO and O levels showed inconsistent trends. The ground and satellite-based air quality levels were positively correlated for NO, PM, and AOD. The data also demonstrated significant correlations between the mobility and NO and AOD levels during the lockdown and recovery periods. The study documents the impacts of the lockdown on people's mobility and air quality and provides useful data and analyses for researchers, planners, and policymakers relevant to managing risk, mobility, and air quality.
2020年严格的新冠疫情封锁措施对全球人们的出行和空气质量产生了重大影响。本研究评估了封锁及随后的重新开放对阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）空气质量和人们出行的影响。利用谷歌的社区出行报告和阿联酋政府的封锁措施来评估出行模式的变化。通过对从卫星图像和地面监测站获得的各种空气污染物水平（一氧化氮、臭氧、二氧化硫、颗粒物和气溶胶光学厚度-AOD）进行时间序列分析和统计分析，来评估空气质量。将2020年最初封锁期间（2020年3月至6月）以及随后在2020年和2021年逐步重新开放期间的污染物水平，与2015 - 2019年期间的平均水平进行比较。在封锁期间，人们在工作场所、公园、商店和药店、交通枢纽以及零售和娱乐场所的出行减少了约34% - 79%。然而，居民区的出行增加了高达29%。基于卫星的数据表明，在封锁期间，一氧化氮（高达22%）、二氧化硫（高达17%）和气溶胶光学厚度（高达40%）显著降低，臭氧变化较小（高达5%）。同样，地面监测站的数据显示一氧化氮（49% - 57%）和颗粒物（19% - 64%）显著降低；然而，二氧化硫和臭氧水平呈现出不一致的趋势。地面和基于卫星的空气质量水平在一氧化氮、颗粒物和气溶胶光学厚度方面呈正相关。数据还表明，在封锁和恢复期间，出行与一氧化氮和气溶胶光学厚度水平之间存在显著相关性。该研究记录了封锁对人们出行和空气质量的影响，并为研究人员、规划人员和政策制定者提供了与管理风险、出行和空气质量相关的有用数据及分析。
