Influence of biomass burning on ozone levels in the Megalopolis of Central Mexico during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The massive reductions in anthropogenic emissions resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the effect of mitigation measures aiming to abate air pollution. In Mexico, the total lockdown period took place during the dry-hot season when biomass burning activity is enhanced. Here, we investigate the role of biomass burning emissions on regional ozone levels in the Megalopolis of Central Mexico. The studied period covers the lockdown phases 2 and 3, and the first month of the New Normal. We applied a factor separation technique and process analysis to estimate the pure and synergistic contributions of emission reductions under lockdown and that from biomass burning to daily ozone maximum concentrations in 7 metropolitan areas of different states in the Megalopolis. The results revealed that biomass burning plumes likely masked the effect of massive reductions from mobile emissions, impacted the PBL development during phase 3 and favored transition and mixed NOx-limited and VOC-limited regional regimes. This contributed to increased ozone production in the middle to lower PBL by changing the regional background levels which potentially could bias high ozone production efficiency estimations. Given the Megalopolis contribution to economic and societal development at national scale, our study suggests that ozone mitigation measures during the dry-hot season targeting mainly mobile emissions will likely be offset by biomass burning plumes. A regional and synergic policy aiming to control biomass burning would help to reduce the occurrence of high ozone levels in Central Mexico with the co-benefit of tackling short-lived climate pollutants.

Ozone over Mexico City during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, emissions of primary criteria pollutants in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) were substantially reduced, as in many other cities in the world. Unexpectedly, the daily average ozone concentration profile was practically indistinguishable from that of the past two years for the same time span in the calendar. So, we compared surface meteorology data, CO, NOx and O3 hourly concentrations in the MCMA from the ozone season (from March 1 to May 31) for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020. Also, TROPOMI satellite data on column count of CO, NO2 and HCHO, above a sparse grid of surface points in the MCMA, were also compared for March, April, and May 2020 with those from 2019. Population density used as a background variable to increase understanding of the observed differences allowed us to propose that reductions in NOx were so drastic that ozone formation moved rapidly from a VOC sensitive region towards a NOx sensitive region. The relevance of that unplanned policy provides impacts of contingent short-term emissions control actions during very high pollution episodes. Further analysis of these and other related data concerning VOC speciation and emissions patterns during the coronavirus lockdown may provide guidelines to enhance emission control policies in the post-COVID-19 times to come.

Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Quality and Resulting Public Health Benefits in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

Meteorology and long-term trends in air pollutant concentrations may obscure the results from short-term policies implemented to improve air quality. This study presents changes in CO, NO2, O3, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 based on their anomalies during the COVID-19 partial (Phase 2) and total (Phase 3) lockdowns in Mexico City (MCMA). To minimise the impact of the air pollutant long-term trends, pollutant anomalies were calculated using as baseline truncated Fourier series, fitted with data from 2016 to 2019, and then compared with those from the lockdown. Additionally, days with stagnant conditions and heavy rain were excluded to reduce the impact of extreme weather changes. Satellite observations for NO2 and CO were used to contrast the ground-based derived results. During the lockdown Phase 2, only NO2 exhibited significant decreases (p < 0.05) of between 10 and 23% due to reductions in motor vehicle emissions. By contrast, O3 increased (p < 0.05) between 16 and 40% at the same sites where NO2 decreased. During Phase 3, significant decreases (p < 0.05) were observed for NO2 (43%), PM10 (20%), and PM2.5 (32%) in response to the total lockdown. Although O3 concentrations were lower in Phase 3 than during Phase 2, those did not decrease (p < 0.05) from the baseline at any site despite the total lockdown. SO2 decreased only during Phase 3 in a near-road environment. Satellite observations confirmed that NO2 decreased and CO stabilised during the total lockdown. Air pollutant changes during the lockdown could be overestimated between 2 and 10-fold without accounting for the influences of meteorology and long-term trends in pollutant concentrations. Air quality improved significantly during the lockdown driven by reduced NO2 and PM2.5 emissions despite increases in O3, resulting in health benefits for the MCMA population. A health assessment conducted suggested that around 588 deaths related to air pollution exposure were averted during the lockdown. Our results show that to reduce O3 within the MCMA, policies must focus on reducing VOCs emissions from non-mobile sources. The measures implemented during the COVID-19 lockdowns provide valuable information to reduce air pollution through a range of abatement strategies for emissions other than from motor vehicles.

N2O emission factors from a wastewater irrigated land in a semiarid environment in Mexico.

Irrigation with wastewater is an increasing practice around the world triggered by the large needs of water for agriculture. Many times this source of water is added by flooding to the fields, creating short temporal oxygen-depleted environments, where nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are promoted. Agriculture is responsible for up to 60% of the global annual emissions of this gas, and its emission factors (EF) must be reported. During 21 months, we installed closed chambers to measure the N2O emissions from a wastewater irrigated plot in the Mezquital Valley. Here, alfalfa, rye grass, and maize were grown in succession, receiving mainly organic N contained in the untreated wastewater and the residues of the previous crop; only maize received extra mineral fertilization of 100 kg of N ha-1. We obtained a time series where the gaps were filled by linear interpolation. EF and N2O direct emissions were estimated by the Tier 1 approach of the IPCC. We found that the alfalfa and rye grass, which only receive organic nitrogen, produced minor N2O emissions, that reflected in lower EF (0.004 and 0.001, respectively), compared with the default value of the IPCC (0.01). In contrast, maize, which receives organic and inorganic N, lost 1% of this N input as N2O, the same as the default value (0.01). It seems that the form of N, the crop age and type influence greatly the N dynamics in this wastewater irrigated land-use system. Therefore, the Tier I approach of the IPCC seems to underestimate the N efficiency of this agroecosystem and overestimates the N2O direct emissions from alfalfa and rye grass.

An air pollution modeling study using three surface coverings near the New International Airport of Mexico City.

The dry lakebed of what once was the lake of Texcoco is the location selected for the New International Airport of Mexico City. This project will generate an important urban development near the airport with regional implications on air quality. Using a prognostic air quality model, the consequences of photochemical air pollution in the metropolitan area of Mexico City resulting from three possible coverings for the areas of the lakebed that are not occupied by the runway and terminal building are investigated. These coverings are desert, grassland, and water and occupy an area of 63 km2. This study is based on a representative high pollution episode. In addition to reducing the emission of primary natural particles, the water covering generates a land-water breeze capable of maintaining enough ventilation to reduce pollutant concentrations over a localized region of the metropolitan area and may enhance the wind speed on the coasts of the proposed lake.