Negative ozone anomalies at a high mountain site in northern Italy during 2020: a possible role of COVID-19 lockdowns?

ERL graphic iopscience_header.jpg LETTER o THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ISOPEN ACCESS Negative ozone anomalies at a high mountain site in northern Italy during 2020: a possible role of COVID-19 lockdowns? Paolo Cristofanelli1, Jgor Arduni2, Federico Serva3, Francescopiero Calzolari1, Paolo Bonasoni1, Maurizio Busetto1, Michela Maione1,2, Michael Sprenger4, Pamela Trisolino1 and Davide Putero5 Published 2 July 2021 o © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd Environmental Research Letters, Volume 16, Number 7 Citation Paolo Cristofanelli et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 074029 DownloadArticle PDF DownloadArticle ePub Figures References Download PDFDownload ePub 219 Total downloads Turn on MathJax Share this article Share this content via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Mendeley Hide article information Author e-mails p.cristofanelli@isac.cnr.it Author affiliations 1 CNR-ISAC, National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Via Gobetti 101, Bologna, IT 40129, Italy 2 University of Urbino, Faculty of Science and Technologies, Piazza Rinascimento 6, Urbino, IT 61029, Italy 3 CNR-ISMAR, National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Marine Sciences, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma, IT 00133, Italy 4 ETH Zürich, Environmental Systems Sciences, Universitätstrasse 16, Zurich, CH 8092, Switzerland 5 CNR-ISAC, National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Corso Fiume 4, Torino, IT 10133, Italy ORCID iDs Paolo Cristofanelli https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5666-9131 Jgor Arduni https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5199-3853 Federico Serva https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7118-0817 Francescopiero Calzolari https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4535-9626 Paolo Bonasoni https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8812-5291 Maurizio Busetto https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-6564 Michela Maione https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2622-5772 Michael Sprenger https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9317-8822 Pamela Trisolino https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1786-5310 Davide Putero https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9721-1036 Dates Received 16 March 2021 Accepted 15 June 2021 Published 2 July 2021 Check for updates using Crossmark Peer review information Method: Single-anonymous Revisions: 1 Screened for originality? Yes DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0b6a Buy this article in print Journal RSS Sign up for new issue notifications Create citation alert Abstract Several studies investigated the possible impacts of the restriction measures related to the containment of the spread of the COrona VIrus Disease (COVID-19) to atmospheric ozone (O3) at global, regional, and local scales during 2020. O3 is a secondary pollutant with adverse effects on population health and ecosystems and with negative impacts on climate, acting as greenhouse gas. Most of these studies focused on spring 2020 (i.e. March-May) and on observations in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), mostly in the vicinity of urban agglomerates. Here, we analyzed the variability of O3 above the PBL of northern Italy in 2020 by using continuous observations carried out at a high mountain WMO/GAW global station in Italy (Mt. Cimone-CMN; 44°12' N, 10°42' E, 2165 m a.s.l.). Low O3 monthly anomalies were observed during spring (MAM) and summer (JJA), when periods of low O3 intertwined with periods with higher O3, within climatological ranges. A similar variability was observed for O3 precursors like NO2 and 15 anthropogenic non-methane volatile organic carbons, but the systematic O3 anomalies were not reflected in these variables. The analysis of meteorological variables and diel O3 cycles did not suggest major changes in the vertical transport related to the thermal circulation system in the mountain area. The analysis of fiv