Full Citation
Title: COVID-19 lockdowns reveal pronounced disparities in nitrogen dioxide pollution levels
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2020
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DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504561.1
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Abstract: The unequal spatial distribution of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an air pollutant related to traffic, leads to higher exposure for minority and low socioeconomic status communities. We exploit the unprecedented drop in urban activity during the COVID-19 pandemic and use high-resolution, remotely-sensed NO2 observations to investigate disparities in NO2 levels across different demographic subgroups in the United States. We show that COVID-19 lockdowns reduced, but did not eliminate, the overall racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic NO2 disparities. Prior to the pandemic, satellite-observed NO2 levels in the least white census tracts of the United States were double NO2 levels in the most white tracts. During the pandemic, the largest lockdown-related NO2 reductions occurred in urban neighborhoods that have 30% fewer white residents and 111% more Hispanic residents than neighborhoods with the smallest reductions, likely driven by the greater density of highways and interstates in these racially and ethnically diverse areas. However, the least white tracts still experienced ≥50% higher NO2 levels during the lockdowns than the most white tracts experienced prior to the pandemic. Future policies aimed at eliminating pollution disparities will need to look beyond reducing emissions from only passenger traffic and also consider other collocated sources of emissions such as heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and industrial facilities.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Kerr, Gaige Hunter; Goldberg, Daniel L; Anenberg, Susan
Series Title: Earth and Space Science Open Archive
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Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Natural Resource Management, Other
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