Decreased Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions during the COVID-19 Pandemic Estimated from FTS and MAX-DOAS Measurements at Urban Beijing

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to ongoing reductions in economic activity and anthropogenic emissions. Beijing was particular badly affected by lockdown measures during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has significantly reduced the CO2 emission and toxic air pollution (CO and NO2). We use column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 and CO (XCO2 and XCO) observed by a ground-based EM27/SUN Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS), the tropospheric NO2 column observed by MAX-DOAS and satellite remote sensing data (GOSAT and TROPOMI) to investigate the variations in anthropogenic CO2 emission related to COVID-19 lockdown in Beijing. The anomalies describe the spatio-temporal enhancement of gas concentration, which relates to the emission. Anomalies in XCO2 and XCO, and XNO2 (ΔXCO2, ΔXCO, and ΔXNO2) for ground-based measurements were calculated from the diurnal variability. Highly correlated daily XCO and XCO2 anomalies derived from FTS time series data provide the ΔXCO to ΔXCO2 ratio (the correlation slope). The ΔXCO to ΔXCO2 ratio in Beijing was lower in 2020 (8.2 ppb/ppm) than in 2019 (9.6 ppb/ppm). The ΔXCO to ΔXCO2 ratio originating from a polluted area was significantly lower in 2020. The reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emission was estimated to be 14.2% using FTS data. A comparable value reflecting the slowdown in growth of atmospheric CO2 over the same time period was estimated to be 15% in Beijing from the XCO2 anomaly from GOSAT, which was derived from the difference between the target area and the background area. The XCO anomaly from TROPOMI is reduced by 8.7% in 2020 compared with 2019, which is much smaller than the reduction in surface air pollution data (17%). Ground-based NO2 observation provides a 21.6% decline in NO2. The NO2 to CO2 correlation indicates a 38.2% decline in the CO2 traffic emission sector. Overall, the reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emission relating to COVID-19 lockdown in Beijing can be detected by the Bruker EM27/SUN Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) and MAX-DOAS in urban Beijing.