Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Concentrations and Sources of PM2.5 and VOCs in NYC Metro Area

MD. AYNUL BARI, Ethan Gerber, Wai Tung, Sanchita Paul, University at Albany, SUNY

     Abstract Number: 502
     Working Group: Source Apportionment

Abstract
The overarching goal of this study is to investigate the overall magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on PM2.5 and VOC pollution in the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area. Globally, investigations have shown significant reductions of primary air pollutants such as PM2.5 and NO2 leading to notable improvement of air quality during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, O3 and secondary particulate matter have increased significantly. In the United States, NYC metropolitan area was the hardest hit early in the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. To date, no attempt has been made in the U.S. to understand impact of COVID-19 pandemic on PM2.5 chemical composition and speciated VOCs and their resulting effects on O3 and secondary organic aerosol formation. The specific objectives are to: 1) determine the extent to which concentrations of PM2.5 components and VOC species changed during COVID-19 pandemic over the past 10 years, 2) identify and quantify the impacts of changes in anthropogenic activities during COVID-19 pandemic to air quality in relation to long-term trends. We examined changes in PM2.5 components and VOC species over the last decade (2011–2020) in three different time periods i.e., 1) pre-lockdown, 2) lockdown, and 3) reopening phase. To identify and quantify changes in PM2.5 and VOC sources during COVID-19 pandemic and their long-term trends in source contributions, we applied positive matrix factorization (PMF) for 2011–2020 using available data in the NYC metro area and non-parametric trend analysis. The changes in O3 and secondary organic aerosol formation during the COVID-19 pandemic were also investigated. Findings can improve our understanding of overall magnitude and impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on air quality and urban chemistry, which is important for the broader scientific community and general public.