Impacts of COVID-19 on Black Carbon in Two Representative Regions in China: Insights Based on Online Measurement in Beijing and Tibet

Abstract

Under the influence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), China conducted a nationwide lockdown (LD) which significantly reduced anthropogenic emissions. To analyze the different impacts of COVID-19 on black carbon (BC) in the two representative regions in China, one-year continuous online measurements of BC were conducted simultaneously in Beijing and Tibet. The average concentration in the LD period was 20% higher than that in the pre-LD period in Beijing, which could be attributed to the increase of transport from southwestern neighboring areas and enhanced aged BC. In contrast to megacity, the average concentration of BC in Tibet decreased over 70% in the LD period, suggesting high sensitivity of plateau background areas to the anthropogenic emission reduction in South Asia. Our study clearly showed that BC responded very differently in megacity and background areas to the change of anthropogenic emission under the lockdown intervention.