In Times of COVID-19, Clean Air Matters
The lockdown imposed across Northern Italy in late February to block the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a dramatic decrease of emissions in the Po Valley, historically one of the most polluted regions in Europe. The satellite images produced by the European Space Agency (ESA) show the tropospheric column levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a chemical tracer of fossil fuel burning - decreasing five-fold in the span of just 9 days.