Persistence of Primary and Secondary Pollutants in Delhi: Concentrations and Composition from 2017 through the COVID Pandemic

We assess impacts of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on ambient air quality in Delhi, building on over three years of real-time measurements of black carbon (BC) and nonrefractory submicrometer aerosol (NR-PM1) composition from the Delhi Aerosol Supersite and public data from the regulatory monitoring network. We performed source apportionment of organic aerosol (OA) and robust statistical analyses to differentiate lockdown-related impacts from baseline seasonal and interannual variability. The primary pollutants NOx, CO, and BC were most reduced, primarily due to lower transportation emissions. Local and regional emissions such as agricultural burning decreased during the lockdown. PM2.5 declined but remained well above WHO guidelines. Despite the lockdown, NR-PM1 changed only moderately compared to prior years. Differences in the trends of hydrocarbon-like OA and BC suggest that some sources of primary aerosol may have increased. Despite notable reductions in some primary pollutants, the lockdown restrictions led to rather small perturbations in the primary fraction of NR-PM1, with secondary aerosol continuing to dominate. Overall, our results demonstrate the impact of secondary and primary pollution on Delhi's air quality and show that large changes in emissions within Delhi alone are insufficient to bring about needed improvements in air quality.

Automated summary

The study assessed the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on ambient air quality in Delhi, finding that while primary pollutants decreased during the lockdown, changes in NR-PM1 were minimal. Despite significant reductions in some primary pollutants, secondary aerosol continued to dominate the air quality in Delhi.