Thread by @richardhmoore

Just getting around to watching the many excellent #AGU20 talks on the atmospheric effects of COVID-19-driven societal changes. While I would've liked to have attended the live sessions, I am loving watching these on demand at 1.5-2x speed. A few highlights (of many) in a thread:

Greg Frost presents a scientific smorgasbord of @NOAA's COVID AQ research in the United States over recent months. Measurements and fuel-based inventories show significant reductions in motor vehicle emissions that are confirmed by satellites. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Daniel Sauer (@dns4861) reports exciting results from the @DLR_en #BlueSky Falcon campaign that suggest the ~80% reduction in commercial flights over Germany translate into reduced particle and reactive traces gases concentrations in the upper troposphere. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Christiane Voigt confirms perception that the 'the sky was more blue' during Spring-Summer 2020 by using the @DLR_en #BlueSky dataset to show reduced aerosol optical thickness relative to MODIS climatology! Lots of really nice atmos. chem. measurements!
agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Maria Cazorla (@skukicaz) combines ambient measurements with modeling to show why large NOx and VOC reductions in Quito, Ecuador during March-April, 2020, associated with lockdowns don't translate into similar reductions in ozone concentrations. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Dan Jaffe reports that COVID-related NOx reductions in NYC that extended into July noticeably reduced policy-relevant summertime ozone. Yet, other cities show different patterns! Wildfires had a big impact on western U.S., and some cities didn't lock down. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Aijun Ding tells us that NO2 concentrations dropped in eastern China during Jan.-Feb., while ozone and (mostly secondary) particulate matter actually increased. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

See also their paper in NSR for the details on why: academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-ar…

Russ Dickerson shows ~50% reduction in total vehicles and ~10% decrease in truck traffic on Interstate 95 near Baltimore-Washington during lockdown bring down CO2, CO and NOx concentrations but ozone impacts are harder to discern. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Aaron Lamplugh and @JBGilman at @NOAA_ESRL report a 40% decrease in VOCs measured in Boulder, CO, during Spring of 2020 versus 2018. Reductions thought to be mainly from mobile source emissions, and they note interesting changes in chemical signatures. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Simone Tilmes used the CESM2-CAMchem model to explore how NOx, CO, VOC, and aerosol emissions reductions in 2020 impact global anthropogenic emissions during the lockdown period. Comparing model results to surface observations shows very nice agreement! agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Even though @NASASARP students couldn't fly this year due to COVID-19, they were able to make some interesting whole air sampling measurements as reported by Don Blake. agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Additional details in this poster by @alexjarnot and others: agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meeti…

Very nice job @JBGilman, Steve Brown, Armin Wisthaler, Bin Yuan, and others in putting together such great sessions! Very suitable for binge-watching!