COVID-19 has cut air pollution in some countries—but will this blip make a difference?
Cities like Beijing have seen a dip in pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic (Unsplash/)With the global economy grinding to a halt, numerous flights cancelled, and people staying at home, atmospheric scientists are paying close attention to satellites and industry data to see how the response to COVID-19 has impacted our planet.It’s obviously a terrible situation, with more than 34,000 deaths worldwide at the time this story was published. And experts say that the real impact to climate change is what we take away from the pandemic—the choices we make in our recovery. It does, however, provide scientists some insight as to what happens to our atmosphere when our lifestyles and economy undergo major change. “It’s an unwanted atmospheric experiment,” says Helen Worden, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).A few analyses have shown that emissions from China dropped in the weeks following the Chinese New Year,...