A study on variation of atmospheric pollutants over Bhubaneswar during imposition of nationwide lockdown in India for the COVID-19 pandemic

The nationwide lockdown in India to flatten the pandemic COVID-19 curve has resulted in the reduction of anthropogenic emission sources to a great extent. This study reports change in air quality and its impact on the environment during the unique lockdown scenario at Bhubaneswar, a coastal smart city in east India. The urban air shows a remarkable reduction in the mean pollutant levels influenced by traffic emission viz. NOx (~ 67 %) and BC (~ 47 %) during lockdown over the pre-lockdown. Comparatively, a lower reduction of CO (~ 14 %) is attributed to the dominance of natural atmospheric chemical regulation and biogenic sources in addition to anthropogenic contributions. In addition to the lockdown, frequent rain events due to depression in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) also had a significant role in the reduction of the primary pollutants over the study site. An enhancement of secondary pollutant viz. O3 (~ 3%) with a distinct diurnal pattern was observed during the first phase of lockdown over the pre-lockdown period. An anti-correlation between O3 and NOx during pre-lockdown points to a higher O3 production potential with decreasing NOx. While a reduction in the titration of O3 due to suppression of fresh NO emissions led to accumulation of O3 in the first phase of lockdown, inhibited photochemistry due to cloudy skies as well as reduction in precursors led to lower O3 values during the later phases of lockdown.